Have you ever listened to metal you really liked that you tried to describe to someone else — even another metalhead — and your brain and tongue locked up because you couldn’t find the right words, or even other bands that you could use as references? That’s the affliction that’s been inflicted on me by an unsigned band from San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, called Random.

Random is composed of only three people — Raul (guitars and vox), Pablo (bass and chorus), and Marcos (drums and chorus) — but on their debut EP, Prrimo, The, they sound like an army. Yeah, sure, with modern recording equipment, one person can sound like an army, but that’s not what I mean. I mean they’re so damned talented, they sound like more skill than three young musicians ought to be capable of summoning.

I will warn you: The music isn’t quite our usual fare here at NCS. For example, this band includes among their cited influences Tool, The Mars Volta, Deftones, and King Crimson — and there’s a lot of clean singing. On the other hand, they also cite Meshuggah, Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Between The Buried and Me. What’s really freaky is that the music they make is in line with all those influences, and it’s so well executed that dropping names like those isn’t overreaching.

I shit you not — this is brash, brilliantly inventive, creatively constructed music, densely packed with stylistic extravagance and technical wizardry, and it deserves a big audience. Getting there will just take a little word-of-mouth, and some receptive ears. We’ll supply some words — you supply your ears.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »