Fen

The only thing that is truly "dark" and mysterious about this western Canadian band is the title of this album. Otherwise, it can be summed up as a poor man's dark/alt/prog-type band comprised of a mishmash barfko swill of top 40 metal/death jabs and influences that include a masturbatory fixation on the mighty Tool, coupled with early Korn and Mike Patton. Interesting to note, however, is that there is a slight reminder of guitar vanguard Caspar Brötzmann here, but that could just be this reviewer's yearning to listen to the latter in order to purge himself of the aural toxins Fen undesirably give. The overall performance and sound quality cannot escape scrutiny either, as it sounds like an ultra-low budget demo cassette that should be erased by intentional "accident."