no damsel's in distress here; Cranial Collide's Surrealevance Apr 20 '11    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Finally, another set of female vocals that aren't insulting to listen to. I could count the number of bands with female vocals I have listened to regularly on one hand. This is not an exaggeration. In fact, I could have lost a finger (or thumb) and still not been lying. Don’t get me wrong, I have over fifty bands of some sort who sport their fashionable female vocalists. But that’s usually all they are: eye and ear candy to take an edge off the testosterone. I have a collection of fantasy metal, darkwave, and random other gothy things where these token girls tend to show up. The issue being? They all sound the same. Ethereal, light, breathy: the sonic version of damsels in distress. I like stuff like that from time to time, but honestly, I need my vocals to come with a little more meat and backbone. That’s why Tapping the Vein, that’s why Kittie and My Ruin, and (okay, fine, I’ll admit it) that’s why Evanescence. And now? I can take back that thumb (or finger). Because there’s Cranial Collide. Kayla Bil has a voice that can and will blow your mind. She is a natural alto with a range and power that I am covetously envious of. I always prefer vocals that work predominantly in the lower registers; there’s more power and authority, which Kayla brings to us steadily and confidently throughout. Cranial Collide is a standard three-piece in some ways; you’ve got your guitarist (Gary Webster), your bassist (Ryan Brun), and your drummer (Steve “Reno” Johnson), with Kayla playing frontgirl overtop of it. The music they make is limited to the three instruments and vocals. Unlike most straight-up rock music, though, these guys (and gal) blast us with brooding, bass-heavy waves of noise that feel as though they would fit better in an industrial album. So I guess that brings us to genre, doesn’t it? I’m not sure if I’m comfortable picking a genre for this band. They’re heavy, but not metal. They’re alt, but not like anything you’ve ever heard on X 92.9. They’re a solid work of darkness and enlightenment, pulsing with polyrhythmic playfulness. They’re what the music scene could be, if… Their first release is non-standard, much like the band itself. Surrealevance is an EP that has been released exclusively as a free digital download. I had an awkward moment talking to Kayla at their EP release party, myself a little less than sober, asking “no, really, is there a physical copy?” She offered to burn me a copy; somehow it’s just not the same. But what this means is that it is accessible to you, the reader… Right. Bloody. Now. So head on over to http://www.wix.com/cranialcollide/music and download it. This EP opens with Deep Water. The song is built more like a miniature orchestral piece than a rock song. There is no verse, chorus, bridge structure; the music comes in movements. The first movement creeps in and around your ears, feeling incredibly like it belongs on a Tool album. Kayla’s vocals drift in, smooth and confident, echoed by whispers. As the music builds up a sense of foreboding around you, this paranoia strongly helped along by the words. “I can sense you staring at me, watching my every move.” There is a pensive sense of helplessness and loss of control, striving to break free. The second movement introduces another voice: guest vocalist Steve Moore (currently of The Unravelling and Post Death Soundtrack, formerly of Inner Surge). He comes in soft and insidious, drifting in the deepest currents of the music. Kayla’s voice drifts over his. The rhythm is hypnotic as it builds; her voice gains power while his remains at that same steady, sure, controlling level. Words like “cower as my soul takes flight” drift up through her defiance. Finally, it explodes into the third movement after she wails out “please release me.” Moore bursts into a rage, the coaxing words now decayed to bitterness. The song comes to an abrupt end after another moment of counterpoint, and I always find my ears feeling empty and wanting more. This song is what duets should be: a lyrical battle of wills that, ultimately, no one wins. The follow-up song, Smashed, is fast and pulsing. The drums drive and trip, urging you into the song. Cranial Collide show their social conscience in this song, decrying the act of “killing for your country.” There is a bridge where the heavy guitar smooths into something almost hollow and Kayla offers up one of the hardest hitting lines I’ve heard in a long time: “I walk this plank of murder.” Next is Forest, where the guitars crunch and the cymbals crash. The plaintive wail of “can you help me see the forest through the trees” marks the chorus. There is an interlude in this song with a fevered rant worthy of Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine), bitten off in a half-scream of “this imitation becomes us.” And as the song reaches crescendo, we see yet another side of Kayla’s voice: a pure falsetto that floats on top of the heavy backdrop with pitch-perfect precision. This dissolves into Perpetual Enmity, led in by a bubbling bass line. The music picks up texture and tone as the song moves forward, pulsing with primal rhythms. With the chorus comes a slow grind that feels comfortably like Bloody Kisses era Type O Negative. “You take my faith away, come through like a burning flame.” This song is the most hypnotic on the album, with moments where the vocals drift high above the music, in and around your head. The lyrics are co-written by Tennessee Bergen (who I was unable to Google anything up on). And, sadly, this brings us to the last song: Simon Says. The guitar runs scales, the bass crunches, the drums trip and pound, and we have my easy second fave on this offering. The theme of a struggle for control returns in this song. “I won’t give into all your discipline, your false authority.” The chorus sets up with a call/response, making the child’s game somehow more forbidding: “Simon says jump! (We all fall to the floor.)” It’s good to find more bands with female vocals that I can actually enjoy. There are no sonic damsels in distress in this band; Cranial Collide is about power and resilience and the will to overcome. One more time, I will stress you to go to http://www.wix.com/cranialcollide/music, there to download their first EP, Surrealevance, absolutely free. I should probably also mention that the technical work (production and engineering) on this EP was brought to you by Casey Lewis of The Evidence. And the graphic design you will download with it is the creation of Steve “Reno” Johnson, drummer and artist.

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