Teeph: Self - Titled

Teeph is a band from Chico, California that plays sludgy, metallic hardcore. They only name 3 influences on their Myspace and they are Converge, Melt Banana, and Frank Zappa. You have to question how seriously you can take what they say with song names like “Male Pattern Bullshit” and “Hipster Killers” (they even changed their name from ‘Teeth’ to ‘Teeph’ for god’sake) but they do sound like a Sludgier version of Converge at times. Their self-titled debut album came out last year and was a very strong outing - I’m surprised since it seemed to slip through the cracks for the most part.

Their album pushes a few more boundaries than most sludge albums in a way that doesn’t sound forced. Everything is done well and sounds natural, but I would have liked to see their extremes pushed a bit further out to the edges of the spectrum. Louder, faster, slower, more distorted weirder time signatures etc. Being that this is their first album (and I believe their first time as a 3 piece) they may just be getting used to each other and the freedom that the third member provides. Besides, if everything was too far out there and erratic on their first album it may have seemed disingenuous, this is exactly what I would expect a precursor to a more evolved album would sound.

Their songs are also relatively shorter than most other sludge songs, with most of them rarely going over the 4 minute mark. This makes their songs more concise and appealing, but I would like to hear them venture into longer song structures and maybe even the 2 digit times as well (like when hyper-active grind kings Pig Destroyer experimented with their half hour song “Natasha.”) It’d be nice to hear these guys mix some slower doom epics with their heavy blasts of hardcore, and I’d like to hear some of their riffs extended as well.

All in all this is a great album that I like more and more every time I listen to it. It's heavy as fuck, but doesn't beat around the bush like some doom albums. It's also slightly experimental, but not too proggy, weird or spastic like most mathcore bands that try to have funny/clever song titles. It’s full of potential that, if fully realized, will blow us away with their next album.

They are currently offering their debut for free download on their bandcamp page, with the option to pay whatever you’d like for it. I encourage you to take a listen and donate if you like the album, too many bands and artists out there are barely breaking even trying to give the world their music. Almost all are without insurance of any kind despite having jobs on the side, and some are even homeless. It’d be nice to help them out every once and awhile.

Download/Listen to their Album here: http://teeph.bandcamp.com/

Teeph Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/teephband