How do you describe a band that defies description? With a shitload of cigarettes, much teeth grinding and a lot of eventual hair-pulling. It really shouldn’t be that hard to write something about Twisted Halo, a band who over the last few years has been catapulted to the forefront of the Independent Scene. They are the darlings of many and the spearhead that will pierce the money-grubbing, vampiric hearts of the Corporate Music Industry. And the funny thing is that the band members never asked for
this level of notoriety. “Nobody wants to help us? Fine. We don’t need them!” This do-it-yourself mentality, perfected by the early punk-rock movement, finally has its Pinoy champions in the guise of five talented artists who got into music for all the right reasons. Twisted Halo chooses do it their way…with the same heart, passion and drive they have always shown.

The songs off their 2001 self-titled E.P. and 2004’s “In Loving Memory of the Fearless Exploits of the Bolo Brigade” (say that five times really fast!) are, in a word, challenging. This is not rock music in the strictest sense…it’s a whole new animal. As with Radiohead, you really have to listen to get the full Twisted Halo experience. The music is akin to plugging a speaker into some genius/madman’s head. Which is not to say that the songs lose all semblance of pop-sensibility, structure and sanity. On the
contrary, the ghosts of The Smiths and The Cure are undeniably evoked. Likewise, the raw energy of The White Stripe and the soaring melodies of Jeff Buckley are channeled into the ass-kicking monster that is a Twisted Halo performance. As for their recordings, I maintain that the best way to listen to either one is in a parked car, two in the morning with your eyes closed, the seat reclined and volume turned up. You can hear everything…I shit you not.

The five band members are no musical slouches either. Monmon Lopez’s drumming is menacing and, well, dramatic. Bassist Buddy Zabala seems to provide the glue that keeps five obviously different (at least in terms of musical preferences) artists in synchronization. The multiple layers and textures laid down by guitarists Jason Caballa and Joey Odulio can only be likened to some vast, abstract painting. Stand close to the canvas and you are assaulted by the individual elements, each more beautiful
than the next. Stand back and you’re floored by the visceral power of the big picture. uitarist/Vocalist Vin Dancel is a revelation with each performance, live or otherwise. He has moments of such exquisite tenderness and melancholy that you are literally pushed back when he lets loose a trademark blood-curdling scream. Like I said, Twisted Halo is not for the faint of heart.

A band that walks the fine line between genius and oblivion, they prove that quality music must be sought out and coveted. But what is the barest of efforts compared to the endless rewards of finding “the real deal?” Through it all, Twisted Halo will play on with the one thing sleazy A & R Men or indifferent audience members can’t ever take away: integrity.

C.C.