Metal Underground.com

Representing one of Rock Ridge Music's heaviest bands, Indorphine has delivered a collection of experimental abstract heavy metal songs for their debut full-length album "Glowsticks for Clubbing Baby Seals." The band treads on somewhat familiar ground with guitar grooves and vocal styles reminiscent of early era System of a Down, including both the spastic vocals as well as the growls. However, Indorphine's music has a more modern vibe rather than a dated nu-metal sound.

From the first notes of the first song, "Uncle Winky's Hump Palace," this similarity is evident. Indorphine adds many more styles to the mix than simple System of a Down impressions, including Southern rock, thrash, funk, some banjos and, yes, cowbell.

One needs only to look at the song titles to see that the band's bizarre sense of humor permeates the album. Indorphine takes the musical humor to another level both lyrically and musically. In customary System of a Down style the music itself often seems to be a rebellion against traditional song structure and sounds. By the middle of the first track they introduce a banjo and lyrics even wackier than the banjo playing.

Indorphine returns to the System of a Down sound a number of times throughout "Glowsticks for Clubbing Baby Seals." The third track, "Song For Bill," and the album's first single, "Spaghetti," are prototypical System of a Down songs. The same could possibly be said of death metal parody "1.5." "Krucifried Chicken" also has some System of a Down style riffs and vocals, but also has some more metalcore riffs and vocals. Several other songs bear some small resemblance or influence as well.

Indorphine is not entirely stop-filled, odd-timing music with oddball humor, however. A few of their songs take on a traditional structure and message including "So Many Days," which is a decent mid-paced radio friendly track. Ironically named "Radio Whore" is even more radio friendly and sounds like a more mainstream rock band. That song is followed by an interesting instrumental piece in "Blue Eskimo" that firmly sets Indorphine apart from their other influences.

The final song of the album, a cover of Mountain's "Mississippi Queen," shows off a more rock side of Indorphine, which works quite well. The song could have done without the 12 minutes of extra "crap" added on to the end of it, but it's a small annoyance that one should put past a band with such a twisted sense of humor.

Despite the System of a Down influences on a number of tracks, with 15 songs on "Glowsticks for Clubbing Baby Seals," Indorphine offers up a decent amount of variety, making the effort recommended for those who like more mainstream metal.