Luckily for me it was the **** gobbling supermodel which came in the form of "****roach Eyelids". In a way it's like a school bully, it picks you up by the collar and throws you around for a while until you're dizzy and about to throw up, then it'll leave you alone, but then it'll come back to finish the job and piss on your maths text books. Though that analogy would be, in many ways, rather unfair. It's calculated and well rounded, exquisitely planned and beautifully executed. It draws influence, seemingly, from all corners of the musical universe to produce something that evokes intrigue and motivation. I can't quite catch every single line, but I like to think it's something more profound than the run-of-the-mill "I had sex...high five?" or "No sex here...Low five?"

Well if "****roach Eyelids" had left me spent, then "Hermit Hole" had lead me to momentarily scrap the previous analogy of fire and blow jobs and break out adjectives like "Macabre" and...Well... Down right f***ing creepy. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, not even slightly; there are too many bands out there that I can listen to without feeling a damn thing. Fen provoke an emotion out of you, songs like "Rubicon Iris" go as far as to even bully emotion out of you, whether it's negative or positive. For me "Rubicon Iris" was the only track on the album I couldn't quite handle, there are sections that I feel are just too disconcerting. Listen to it, you'll see what I mean.

"Pin Cushion" I believe, is a delicate white rose that grew out of a pot filled with psychotropic drugs and nuclear waste. I just didn't see it coming, but who would? It's soft, it's subtle but it, somehow, doesn't seem TOO out of place. Bands like The Offspring spent years trying to create a style that was quintessentially them, and I believe that Fen aren't far off having something that people could genuinely pick out of a crowd.

There's something that army drill sergeants used to say that would make sense right about now. No, not "I'm gonna rape you in your sleep maggot! Now drop and gimme' 50!" something more along the lines of there being an easy way, and there being a hard way. Well, there is no hard way, no easy way either, in this case there is only "Fen-way". In Fen I see a hatred that equals mine for that which is dull, that which is mediocre and bland, that which aspires to be equal to nothing.

The fear aspect will always be there for music like this, but underneath that monster there is a core of poetry and culture. Don't judge this book by the cover, because although you might not enjoy every second of it, it will definitely challenge you.

...Who knows, maybe you'll grow to enjoy land mines and being on fire.

Rating: This album made me want to rent Beetlejuice.

Drew.