Numbers – “Three” [Album Review]

It’s not every day that you come across a term like “jazzcore.” I found Numbers online a few years ago when I discovered their vocalist’s covers of Periphery jamz on the YouTube, which alludes a bit to the kind of vocal range to expect from Numbers. The “jazz” aspect of this particular “core” describes primarily the tonality of the music, which I guess in layman’s terms could be expressed as a “darker happy” or “that note feels like it wants to go somewhere else but seems to have made friends with the the group of notes it’s with and if that note makes babies with its new friends, don’t expect those babies to look like everyone else.”

To listeners who are not familiar with acts such as Protest The Hero, beware. You might initially be overwhelmed by the amount of processing that your brain undertakes after pressing play. One of my favorite instances of this kind of aural bombardment takes place during the intro of “Legal Lee Speaking,” where Mr. Jazz Fingers, aka vocalist Kyle Bishop, pronounced “Bishop,” plays a delightful string of notes on the piano/keys followed by full band accompaniment that leaves your heart racing, filling your extremities with Nosferatu’s favorite snack.

In Mortal Kombat terms, this album is Scorpion’s fatality where he wraps a chain around your neck and kicks you into another dimension that leads you back to our current dimension followed by a pimp slap (Disclosure: I added the pimp slap part). There is SO much song-writing on this album. Riff after riff after riff after lead after scream after riff after lead after piano diddle after riff Three repeating (math joke with a pun ’cause the album is entitled Three. White trash devil girl, get your nerd on).

Long story short, when it comes go techie, prog metal, this is the band to beat. If you’re in such a band… *Albanian sex trafficker voice from the movie “Taken”* good luck. PS – There’s a song called, “Swanky Sauce.” No, that is NOT a typo, and yes, it’s amazing.

Track Listing:

01. Shortly Broken
02. Empty Eyes
03. Legal Lee Speaking
04. Fight Or Flight
05. It’s Chilly Out
06. Undertow
07. Truth Bender
08. Sicken
09. Recreate
10. Swanky Sauce
11. Frames
12. Ghost In The Room (Prelude)
13. Ghost In The Room

Run Time: 1:00:42
Release Date: March 25, 2014

Check out the song “There For You”