iwrestledabearonce - It's All Happening (2009)

iwrestledabearonce (yes, it's all lowercase), is a 5 piece Grindcore/Metalcore/Jazz/Disco/Electronica/Swing/Avant-Garde Metal band from Shreveport, Louisiana. They formed in 2007 and consist of Krysta Cameron (Vocals), Steven Bradley (Guitar, Programming, Keys & Sampling), John Ganey (Guitar, Programming, Keys & Sampling), Mike "Rickshaw" Martin (Bass), and Mikey Montgomery (Drums & Backup Vocals). They are currently signed to Century Media.

It's All Happening, iwrestledabearonce's debut full-length album reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers, and #122 on the U.S. Billboard 200. It has 11 tracks which consist of "You Ain't No Family", "White Water in the Morning", "Danger in the Manger", "I'm Cold and There Are Wolves After Me", "Tastes Like Kevin Bacon", "The Cat's Pajamas", "Pazuzu For the Win", "Black-Eyed Bush", "Eli Cash Vs. the Godless Savages", "See You in Shell", and "Danger in the Manger (Jimmy Urine Mix)" which is the bonus track. The album itself was decent, but not all that good. Not going to lie though, I was impressed that a girl could do the screams like Krysta does, and she changes between that and a soothing clean vocal. The artistry of the guitar was well done, there were extremely complex parts and well played riffs. The drums were intense, and would tend to go to blast beats more often than anything else. Bass was really hard to hear, and at points, I thought they didn't even have a bass player. That being said, the keys, programming, and sampling done just didn't fit, neither did the genre changes. They'd be in the middle of screaming and all brutal, and then it'd go to Jazz, it just didn't sound good on the ears.

Overall, the album was decent, theorettically, it'd be a great album, and when you listen to each instrument individually, it is, it's when you put them all together with the constantly changing genre's that it just turns into chaos and doesn't work. If you're into Winds of Plague, August Burns Red, Blessthefall, The Human Abstract, Fact, Greeley Estates, Sea of Treachery, Enter Shikari, All Shall Perish, Vanna, The Dillinger Escape Plan, or HORSE the Band, then you should check them out. Or, as I've said in a previous article, if you hate them, listen to Preschool Tea Party Massacre, and then you should be able to at least stand them. The album was released June 2, 2009 and is available on amazon and iTunes.

Overall Rating: 3.9 out of 5.0

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iwrestledabearonce's Website