For those who love to categorise, Ohio’s Maid Myriad have helpfully invented their own genre, of which they’re currently the only member: kaleidoscope rock. It couldn’t fit them better, either, as With Haste On Its Breath twirls through progressive rock and post-hardcore with a refreshing sense of otherness.
There are obvious influences at play – the darker, quieter corners of Deftones’ work, Cave In’s later, more melodic days, a smattering of Tool’s art-metal rhythms, a touch of Mars Volta when frontman Jeff Klemm lets rip with the falsetto, and the grit and raw emotion of mid-90s post-hardcore personified by the likes of Jawbox and Sunny Day Real Estate.
But in pooling all of these influences together, they’ve created an album that exists purely in its own little world, and quite lovely it is, too. The only thing that lets it down is that the production is a little on the weedy side; with so many ideas crammed in there, a little more lushness would have gone down a treat. But as first impressions go, this is definitely a memorable one./o:p
