Search - Fucking Champs :: IV

Everything metal should be.

Cootermarsh Jones | The US, North America, Earth, the Milky Way | 05/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is metal. Metal as it should be. No vocals. No bass. Two guitars and a drumset. The essence of metal. Pure. Unadulterated. The most elegant harmonies. The most glorious melodies. Simply wonderful."

Neoclassical Champstavaganza

monsmontis | Raleigh, nc USA | 10/10/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On IV, actually their second record, The Champs expand on groundwork fromn their monumental debut, Cham95. I hesitate to call this a metal record, although TFC employ inummerable metal conventions ie. fifth harmonies, artificial harmonics, arpegio sweeps... These songs certainly have the sort of righteous fervor you'd expect to find on a classic Priest or Metallica album but the time changes and general song structures are so precisely chaotic, outright insane even, K.K. Downing would flee for the dressing room in terror and Lars Ulrich, well, screw Lars Ulrich. Highlights include Thor is like Immortal, a sort of ballet for metal guitar, C'mon Smash the Quotile, the stinging opener from their live set, Lost, a synth exploration and Extra Man, the only track with vocals- it recalls the finest moments of Thin Lizzy while retaining the compositional sense of originality that makes the Champs a band without peers. I encourage anyone who enjoys this record to seek out their first, Cham95, which is better only because its twice as long."

Don't over-analyze this album.

The Dann | Boston | 03/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What is this music? Post-rock that actually rocks? Instrumental thrash-punk? Math-Metal? This is the problem with music marketing nowadays; everything is so hyper-atomized and niche-marketed it has to fall into nice, neat little categories.

The fact that this band always seems to conjure up so much divided opinion between several different kinds of music fans proves to me that they're doing something right! =-D

Bottom line - does this album rock? The answer to that is unequivocably YES, so pick it up, ignore what your friends say and don't worry if it doesn't fit perfectly with the rest of your music collection. You can thank me later."