Skrape

News flash to today's youth: Nu Metal is old. That's a bit of shocking news that often goes unreported by the media, and unfortunately such ignorance leads young bands to experiment with doses of enraged vocals and heavy guitars that often result in numbness of the public's ears, not to mention a generation sporting shorter hair with each passing Limp Bizkit album.

Luckily the members of Orlando's Skrape muster enough originality on their New Killer America debut to bring some life to this decrepit genre. Sure, the rip-riffing guitars and pelting drums are present, as is vocalist Billy Keaton's sometimes breathy, occasionally (and predictably) angry delivery. But what sets Skrape apart from WWF-approved rock are interesting dynamics and melodic lines found in songs such as "Sunshine," on which sonic assault reverberates along an infectious chorus. "Sleep" allows a somnolent, Deftones quality to surface for air between monstrous chords. "Isolated" reveals quirky keyboards hovering over a garden of guitars and changing tempos, while, as on "What You Say," the band prefers to forgo the color and simply go for crunch -- something various members have delivered in some shape or form in the past. (Bassist Pete Sison spent time with fellow Floridians the Genitorturers, while drummer Will Hunt played with Stuck Mojo for a brief time.)

Skrape's shot at bigger things may eventually pay off, given that it has created a solid, promising debut that neither scares the kiddies nor bores the adults (or vice versa).