We Are the Romans [Digipak] [Limited] [Remaster] (CD - 2000)

Audio Remasterer: Ed Brooks.

Tacoma, Washington, mathcore legends Botch created some of the most memorable and complex music the genre has ever heard. Their landmark second album, WE ARE THE ROMANS, left a path of scorched terrain rivaling General Sherman's infamous march to the sea. With punishing riffs and head-spinning time signature changes, Botch laid a foundation for the state-of-the-art thrash currently being championed by bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Norma Jean, among others. The album wastes no time bowling the listener over with the opening mortar shell, "To Our Friends in the Great White North," and it rarely lets up from there. There are, however, interesting experiments, such as the looped beat of "Transitions from Persona to Object" and the slow drip of "Swimming the Channel vs. Driving the Chunnel," both of which foreshadowed future endeavors by the members in These Arms Are Snakes and Minus the Bear. Metal label Hydra Head is re-releasing WE ARE THE ROMANS with a second disc of demos and live tracks, giving one of modern metal's finest hours a much-deserved few more minutes. minimize