If you had not heard of the band before, you would certainly raise an eyebrow when you heard the name “Exotic Potion Cookies“. Once the album starts to play, you would then likely cock your head from side to side as you try to work out from what angle they are coming. Dressed in 6 am post-rave attire, these guys are bringing out their album “That’s Huge!” in August 24++++++++++++++++.
What amounts to the spectrum of sound, there are but a trio of cookie cutters in the band. We have Mr Civic(guitars, vocals), Doctor G (keyboards, bass, vocals) and RBDG Mcelkinsan (drums, percussion, sometimes vocals).
The only thing that I can definitely claim is that to try to classify this band would be irrelevant. From there on, your own idea of what you hear is your own interpretation. Lists of styles and influences abound with everything from Chopin to Alice in Chains. “EPC are not afraid to blend unexpected sounds”. Being unafraid of breaking convention, they draw from one, slice from another and blend the shit of something else. All that comes out in this alt-rock, ska-punk cross funk metal. At times we get clear influences from Alice in Chains and Fait No More to give you a clear idea of what it is they are trying to represent, before heading into SOAD and Pusicfer. But, when you listen to the intro with some sort of mini tuba-esque synthesised sound coming through before the KoRn tone kicks in, you get the idea these guys are keen to get down to some to hard rock, while surreptitiously encouraging you to dye your hair with pink and white bands. Certain songs come through stronger with one influence vs another. System of a Down shines through in “Tip o my tongue” especially but more from the vocal stance of Daron Malakian. They do forge their own way through the album by imparting their own character to it all.
As they probably try to not to take themselves to seriously and prove that point vehemently, they put “Itty Ditty” in there. While only a little under two minutes, it does break any momentum they might’ve had to that point. When the next song kicks in with it’s sombre and structured tone, you wonder what why they put in the previous couple of minutes. As a live performance, they are known to be a good one, so perhaps this works better live.
Vocals range all over the show. Predominantly more sitting in the post-grunge style, there could a time when there are growls or their might be the high pitched sound of a squeal. Who knows. It kinda works and with three vocalists, there is a good chance you can get a variety of vocal styles to suit whatever they’ll play.
Placing the album art on a t-shirt would be a good idea. It is filled with little well drawn pictures of this, that and others that can only be explained by the band and those who know. The colour scheme is vibrant and unique like if they’ve cut off the shavings of the some spectral light plane and used those colours to enhance the images.
There is no suitable rating for this album. If you thrive in melodic chaos, alt sounds and funky upbeat vibes tending towards to the post-nu metal genre, this will be a band for you. If not, then this will not be good option. Because of the uniqueness of the sound and the quality of some of the songs, I’d give it cred for being an album that was created to high standards but ensuring that they pushed boundaries, much like in track 6.
Tracklist:
1. Ill Transmission
2. Shtompé
3. Valley of the Serpent
4. Known
5. Tip o my tongue
6. Itty Ditty
7. Taken
8. Cancel This!
Exotic Potion Cookies: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: self-released
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Byron Lotz
