Album review: Merrick – Just Chromosome

Name Merrick ring a bell? It did for me, but I’d forgotten that it was the Elephant Man’s surname. (Better that than the character from that Vin Diesel movie, eh?) This particular Merrick are from Bristol, and share a certain elephantine quality with their namesake; Just Chromosome is heavy stuff, but not in that faster-louder-more-distorted way. Oh no: this is heavy music with subtlety to it.

The track listing of Just Chromosome is well chosen, because it neatly introduces the primary facets of Merrick‘s sound. Opener “Ten Times” brings spacious kick-driven drum patterns beneath Bushy riffs with a sharp and twangy nineties feel to match the buried vocals, which veer between grungy singing on the verses and a sort of nu-metallish quasi-rap on the choruses. It’s good stuff, but it’s the clean sung parts on the breakdowns that really grab your attention.

Before you’ve had a chance to think about it, “Timmy” blasts into action. It’s a more unreconstructed nu-metal piece – a little like Filter covering Deftones – while singer Marcus Michalis frequently sounds like the guy from American Head Charge has taken possession of his vocal cords. But don’t be put off by the nu-metal mention – that genre had its moments, and they occurred when bands were making a noise like Merrick are here. Micahlis’ roaring delivery really justifies the confrontational riff and chopped-groove style; there’s no whiny Fred Durst posturing going on here.

But we reach title track “Just Chromosome” itself before it becomes clear that Merrick are hugely influenced by Tool. And I do mean hugely. This is not a bad thing either: sure, there’s hundreds of Tool clones out there, but Merrick have avoided the trap that most of them fall straight into. In a nutshell, they’re a good Tool clone. They are a Tool clone that does not suck.

This is accomplished by the simple expedient of reverse-engineering the musical style rather than just ripping it off wholesale. As obvious as the influence may be, these tunes are Merrick‘s own, through and through – complete with fluid looping melodies and crushing chunks of riff, stately time signatures that change when you least expect them, and Michalis’ Keenanesque ‘clean’ voice making regular appearances. It’s convincing, solid, well-crafted but not overconfident, angry without being childish. Bloody good stuff, in other words.

Those first three tracks are definitely the best; the rest of Just Chromosome has Merrick switching up the metal elements from song to song while sticking predominantly with the Tool-like format, and while it’s all more than passable, none of it grabs the throat quite like the first few. But a damned good job for a self-released album – it’s rare to find one that manages to mix quality and promise quite as well as this. I’ll be watching out for tour dates.