As soon as Century Media signed this shit for the U.S. I had my eye on these comedian mathcore freaks of Iwrestledabearonce. It took a bit longer for them to reach Europe, yet the album It’s All Happening is out now and it seems that the popular fashioncore scene has picked up on them as well. They’re already confirmed for the next edition of the Never Say Die tour, so they’re heading in the right direction obviously. Let’s see what this record offers.

Iwrestledabearonce combines the elements of brutal metal, hardcore and mathcore with some ambient music and electro beats and a good dose of humour. This means spastic, hectic music with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. And stupid noises, like for instance a horse. Also the record is loaded with cool beats and samples, adding to the mayhem even more. Topping off all this noise are female vocals that range from grunts to screams, but also clean sung passages which makes the whole of the band a bit poppy, be it that there are some heavy as fuck breakdowns and bashing metal parts. It looks like there is fun for everyone on It’s All Happening!

 

To be honest I feel like this is one of those records that you cannot describe. You have to hear it to understand it. Just expect a lot of versatility and sudden changes in style, tempo and rhythm. For me personally they could’ve made the whole a tad heavier and intense and have left out a bit of the experimentation, yet I cannot deny Iwrestledabearonce is a very entertaining band that will probably do very well in the modern metal scenes of today. The one thing I fear is that they won’t be able to deliver the goods in a live environment like they do on record. I had this horrid discovery with Rolo Tomassi as well, so I hope these guys won’t fail me on this one. Fashion kids, pick this one up!