Metal Underground.com

Totally out of left field, Kaotoxin Records hurls a serious curve ball with 6:33's “Deadly Scenes” – but that fits the band's style just fine, since the Parisian outfit really doesn't do anything expected or normal. Bizarro in the extreme, but in a good way, 6:33 is that breath of fresh air you need after cleaning off all your corpse paint or breaking your neck trying to keep up with all the extreme death metal releases.

The ever changing (and frequently challenging) album starts in a way that will throw the audience hilariously off-balance right from the start, with a choir singing out “Lord Jesus!” As metal heads furiously inscribe the sign of the inverted pentagram, 6:33 has already moved on to a different style, building speed with guitars, piano, drums, and a variety of vocal styles.

When the manic energy and clean singing on “Ego Fandango” come around, all the Faith No More fans are going to find their ears immediately perking up. Much like how Soen went ahead and released those albums Tool never got to, 6:33 gives us something that Faith No More might sound like 15 years later, but with an even more experimental and genre-crossing bent.

The sheer number of different musical ideas going on can be hard to keep up with, from the Kontrust style pop/metal crossover sections, to the sampled and spliced Native American chanting on “The Walking Fed,” and to the Danny Elfman-esque dark fairy tale score of “Modus Operandi.” The track “Black Widow” manages to fit in big band, screams, and circus music before wrapping up, and “Last Bullet For A Gold Rattle” features twangy acoustic guitar like something you'd hear in a Western flick while seeing the barren landscape.

During the album's run time you'll hear choirs and orchestral elements next to metal and rock and everything in between. On the metal front, it finally hits in full force with “I'm A Nerd,” but of course extreme metal isn't the only style to be heard on the track, as the band has to keep things weird, throwing in banjos, just because.

If you are looking for a straight-up metal experience, this isn't it, and its also worth noting ahead of time that the lyrics are bizarre and absurd – especially on 13 minute ending opus “Deadly Scenes” (think Vampillia and you're about there). That being said, “Deadly Scenes” is an incredibly entertaining album that's an excellent choice for fans of the groups that ignore genre lines, from Oblomov and Unexpect to Mr. Bungle and Devin Townsend.