Animal Giant

The Glory

HM Album Reviews

The Glory

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Animal Giant is the moniker for John LaRussa’s (Inhale Exhale) one-man band. On this EP, he does it all, from engineering, tracking and producing to the instruments and songwriting.

The first few times I really dug into The Glory EP, I unearthed a very intriguing, spastic, sometimes expansive effort. It combined quasi-positive guitar licks with the intensity of metalcore, floating back and forth seamlessly. The marriage seemed to work; the sometimes melodic tones meshing with the metal vocals. But after a number of listens, certain aspects of LaRussa’s songwriting choices started to gnaw at me. (For example, the song phrases he chooses to repeat.) In the end, most of it subsided or could be passed off as a means to an end.

Otherwise, LaRussa’s songwriting is impressive, and some frenetic bits were truly addicting. It’s an exciting tease for the full-length.

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