Poney’s “Seamyth” is an album that would probably get a lot of love from publications such as Decibel magazine and Metalsucks as they have a sludgy, post-metal sound akin to bands like American Heritage and “Leviathan” era Mastodon. But, the thing with Poney is that they go beyond this and add in both progressive elements and even elements of 60s rock, in short they are what I refer to as a “kitchen sink” type of band – a band that has a little bit of everything thrown in for good measure. Sometimes “kitchen sink” bands work and sometimes they don’t/ “Seamyth” tends to be able to work these elements far more than not, seamlessly weaving different styles.
The problem is that although Poney is a “kitchen sink” band, they mainly play it with a focus on “Leviathan” era Mastodon which is sound that I could never get into. I don’t know why but the vocals on “Leviathan” just bug the shit out of me. Shouting just never was my thing I guess. The music is OK, but vocally… Meh.
This is my problem with Poney as well-too much focus on shouting vocals rather than the actual singing. The singer actually has a really good voice when he actually sings, which is just too bad as his singing really enhances the songs on the occasion where that is focused on instead of the shouting.
Other than this, the album is actually surprisingly well played with long intricate songs and the whole album ends up spanning well over an hour long. If the band had just stopped with all the shouting this album would have been amazing. Instead, what we get is an album that’s good, but missing that extra oomph to take it over the top. Hopefully, they read this review and rectify it.
Of course, I could be in the minority on the vocals-”Leviathan” made Mastodon into stars and cemented their reputation as one of the bigger metal bands, so I’m guessing that most people who hear this are going to love it. Check it out for yourself!
Our Rating: 
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