From A Second Story Window

by Mark Deming
In the self-penned biography on their website, From a Second Story Window describe their work by saying, "Simply put, we are trying to create music for attention-deficit people," and the group's tight, furious blend of math rock, hardcore, and death metal, dominated by precise, stop-on-a-dime shifts of tempo and melody, certainly sounds like the hard rock equivalent of Ritalin. Most of the members of From a Second Story Window hail from Warren, OH, a small town along the Ohio/Pennsylvania border (the group's slogan is "Ohiovania Dudecore") which doesn't boast much of a music scene. The band formed in 2002 to document the barren environment of their home and to push the boundaries of the underground metal sounds they believed were growing stale. In 2003, the band self-released a five-song album, The Cassanda Complex, which intrigued both critics and fans alike; the adventurous metal label Black Market Activities signed the band, and the disc was reissued in 2004 with the new title Not One Word Has Been Omitted. The lineup for the debut was Sean Vandegrift on lead vocals, Rob Hileman and Derek Vasconi on guitars, Joe Sudrovic on bass, and Nick Huffman on drums, but by the time the band returned for their second album, Delenda, in 2006, Vandegrift left the group and Will Jackson took over as lead singer, punctuating his guttural howls with occasional burst of melodic natural-sounding vocals. Extensive touring followed the release of Delenda, with Paul Misko taking over on guitar after Vasconi parted ways with the band.