Cable - The Failed Convict

Genre metal Publisher The End Records

Much like indie rock is to the rock scene, progressive sludge is becoming the same in the metal genre, so when a band like Cable comes along and releases their new album The Failed Convict, it just seems like yet another band trying to emulate the success of Mastodon.

It is that band, Mastodon, ever since their sophomore album Leviathan, that this genre of classic sludge, i.e. The Melvins and Sleep, melded with a progressive rock tinge to become what is now known as progressive sludge. The problem with this genre is that for the most part, excluding the aforementioned band in addition to fellow Georgians Baroness and Kylesa, bands of this genre seem not to have any ingenuity to their sound. Instead, they seem to rip off the forefathers of the genre.

Another problem is that while these bands had spotty sound production in the beginning, in addition to rough vocals, all these newer bands think that’s the way to go, and that’s the problem with Cable. They just don’t sound very good. The vocalist just screams and while some of the originators did the same, they had some uniqueness to their sound. Here, it just sounds like screaming for the sake of screaming’s sake without any meaning to it—that is with the exception of the track “Outside Abeline,” easily the best song on the disc. This track, unlike the rest actually has melodic singing mixed with the usual screaming vocals to great effect.

Aside from the horrid vocals, the instrumentation on the album is simply hard to judge. At times such as on “Sleep Produces Monsters” and “Palm Sunday”, the guitars have a wondrous melodic tone. While it sounds yet again, like a Mastodon demo, they are fun tracks to listen to with plenty of diversity.

The title track is also not bad. It starts with an acoustic guitar juxtaposed to the yelling vocals, but turns into a full-on epic with guitars, drums and a piano with vocal chants present in the background. This actually is something the band could run with to not make themselves as another rip off, but they don’t.

The problem is that while these songs have potential, they sound like they, much like the rest of the album, was recorded inside a small cave. This seems to be quite a frequent occurrence in newer bands of the genre. They seem to think that basic recording values can be dropped and in fact, helps the atmosphere.

This is where they are wrong. The truth is that bands that have succeeded in this genre have done so with quality recordings. The Red Album and Blood Mountain just to name a few, respectively by Baroness and Mastodon, while they have a highly distorted sound, have a clear and concise sound. This of course is not to mention the fact that they are creative, unique and enjoyable listens. On these recordings you can make out the guitars, from the drums and bass. On The Failed Conflict, the various instruments all seem mushed together and don’t appear to be mastered.

Granted, some people do prefer this sound, and who knows, maybe Cable just doesn’t have the budget for a good recording. Either way, a sound quality that is this bad, is excruciatingly hard to listen to.

Overall, Cable just doesn’t succeed on this effort. While the sound quality is bad, the basic truth is that most of the tracks just sound like retreads from other bands and in fact, don’t have much variety to them. Another problem is that the progressive sludge genre is too overcrowded, so for them to be successful and standout, they need to be something special. Sadly, The Failed Conflict doesn’t even come close to being that.