INFERNOPHONIC – Spark It Up

“Say Whatcha Mean, Whatcha Mean” that is what Infernophonic are all about in their debut release Spark It Up. The band from New Jersey, US arose in 2006 by the veteran bass player Kevin Bolembach who was, in early days, the bass player of the Doom Heavy Metal act from New Jersey – Non Fiction. In general the band’s genre is Hard Rock but has a large amount of influences which makes this genre pretty varied. Their influences range from early 70s Hard Rock, for example bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin through Funk and Pop music similar to bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Audioslave to Grunge Rock much similar to Soundgarden. All those components lay out a colorful blend.

The composition of the music is rather good and the production is in high quality. There are advantages and disadvantages regarding the diversity of the music. The real advantage behind the music is that it reaches more and more people from almost all corners of the world. But the disadvantage is that the diversity of the music, especially on this record, where almost every track is in a different sub genre, can make some listeners go crazy. Most might listen only to those tracks which answer their expectations. Let’s take the track “Say Whatcha Mean”. This track is a 100 percent Grunge Rocker. Another sample is the track “Thank You” which is almost a mixture of Rock, Pop and even some R&B. Some listeners will reject either of them and that fact hurts the band’s progression. The group presents their might in this album but lacks to show their place in music. Tracks like “Thank You” and “Eye Of The Jedi” can be rejected by some Rock and Grunge fans. So the conclusion from all those points is that it can go both ways and that is a gamble.

Spark It Up reveals the high attributes of the members of Infernophonic. The most dominant member is the bass player Bolembach. This guy can make some cool funky rhythms and scales while increasing the power of some songs. His most diverse works are on tracks like “Take Aim” and “Yeah Yeah Yeah”. Guitarist, Patrick Piegari, has a lot of nice riffs from all the sub genres of Rock and Grunge. Most of the time he breaks out with good solos which are demonstrated on tracks like: “Say Whatcha Mean”, “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and “Take Aim”. Vocalist, Elaine Tuttle, which is also the band’s lyricist, draws a lot of influence from the Pop scene and also some motifs from R&B music. Her lyrics are, mostly, on regular universal subjects but written well. Her voice is silky, sweet and clean. She is definitely not Lita Ford but her singing style and voice in various songs saves them from being boring like “Hear Me”. Courtney Williams is, as the band says in the credits, their savior and on this album in various parts this is true as he provides solid and accurate drumming and has a lot of presence.

Although the band shows versatility by genre mixing, the album doesn’t deliver in a way that it should. There are some tracks which are not that interesting and pretty banal like the track “Eye Of The Jedi”. This one is a pure imitation of Rage Against The Machine or Audioslave for that matter and doesn’t show any sign of originality. In addition, comes the case of the listener who is not a fan of Funk and Pop but Rock only and doesn’t like the mix between them. He won’t give the songs their true credit and crumbs of chance. “Thank You” , “Be Here Now” and “Hear Me” are more Pop songs than Rock or Grunge and can be sung by Beyonce or Shakira. The fact is there is no difference between them and Tuttle.

There are three glimpses of hope on this album: “Say Whatcha Mean” is the best track of the record. It’s like a track that was taken from Soundgarden’s classic Superunknown. The track has a good heavy riff to it with a good solo and a catchy chorus. The opener “Anyone Else” is also a Grunge tune with more good riffs with Rocky parts. The last one is “Invisible Slaves” which is a Rock anthem that is saved by its great and catchy chorus; the rest of the music is not that compelling.

Overall, Infernophonic are an interesting group who have a lot to contribute to the music world and to almost all of its genres. But they have to focus themselves on a more solid base. Sending the message to everyone to understand is good but in later stages its shows confusion and uncertainty concerning later albums and fans’ expectations from them. These guys and girl can really do this and succeed if they will pick a single approach.

Lineup

Elaine Tuttle – Vocals
Pat Piegari – Guitar
Kevin Bolembach – Bass
Courtney Williams – Drums