CoC : Puzzle Head - Missing Pieces : Review

Puzzle Head - _Missing Pieces_
by: Gino Filicetti (not rated)

This East Coast band is the brainchild of Mike Potter and Mike "Serial" Greenhall, the sole members of Puzzle Head (formerly in Stentor). This "EP" is a nicely packaged CD including full colour liner notes and top notch production. The music on this CD is most definitely death metal, but not the every day generic death you might be thinking of. The two Mikes incorporate many different elements into their music making for quite a varied effort on their part. The first track, "Filth Inside", starts off as a blast beat ridden slab of music. The vocals on this song, and throughout the rest of the CD, are the very deep guttural type of growls. The drumming on this CD is of the utterly annoying "tin can" type, which makes me want to cringe at times. The second song, "Hate Me", has a few hardcore elements worked into it such as off beat drumming, but the vocals are still very much death metal. The track, "In Memory Remains" is dedicated to a long-time friend and fan of the band, Allen Ray White (1975-1995). Mike Greenhall, aka Serial, is also a poet who utilized the best of his poetry for the lyrics on this demo/EP. I couldn't be bothered to decipher the lyrics from the liner notes because the band decided to be different and print the lyrics in a ransom letter style font that's impossible to read. All in all, this demo is interesting, but nothing to kill your mother over.

Contact: PUZZLE HEAD, c/o Vampyrum Publicity, 2441 Temple Ct.

(article published 18/4/1996)