Sad news; Five Star Prison Cell call it a day

Some very sad news to share; after 7 years Melbourne's Five Star Prison Cell have decided to call it a day.

While it is indeed very sad to hear that this fantastic group is breaking up off the back of their strongest and most diverse release (their third full-length 'MATRIARCH') it seems all involved are at least parting on amiable terms.

Five Star Prison Cell are one of those bands who never received the following, respect and recognition that their immense talents, dedication and creativity deserved. They should be known as Australia's awesome answer to early-Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah and Botch. The sad fact is, it was exactly because of their creativity and originality that they never achieved the success that should have come to them. They did not fit into any specifics 'scene' - they had too many clean vocals for the metalheads (despite being heavier and more chaotic than any death metal or grind band), too metal for the hardcore faux-tech kids (and their watered down psuedo-Meshuggah ripoff breakdowns) and too technical for anyone who wasn't at least a reasonably accomplished musician to really comprehend. They made your average music-jerk feel stupiod, uncomfortable and eager to find any reason to hate them.

Five Star Prison Cell were a band that gave me faith in pursuing my own music with Ebolie and Serious Beak. We viewed them as one of the only kindred-spirits in the Australian music scene. They helped drive us on in an attempt to push sonic boundaries even harder.

On their final tour for MATRIARCH (specifically their show at The Empire Hotel with Adrift for Days) their performances were mindblowing and impeccably tight. It is not a simple thing to play the music they write as well as they do - it takes A LOT of work and practice. Those polyrhythmic nightmares are far more difficult to nail than your favourite sweep-picking death metal jerkoff. I'm glad I got to fully enjoy their music on those few recent occasions.

I won't keep continuing on. I just want to say I have immense respect for all four members of Five Star Prison Cell personally and artistically. I hope they have made the right choice for themselves and I (and many others) would be disappointed if we did not see all the members continuing to express themselves through new musical projects.

Thanks for all the awesome albums and shows guys, you will most certainly be missed. Your absence will leave a hole in Australia's underground music scene that will never be filled.

<3 Lachlan.

Five Star Prison Cell - M (live)

Five Star Prison Cell - I Curse This Vessel

Five Star Prison Cell - Vexed (for reasons torn)

Five Star Prison Cell - Airsharks (at Hot Damn!)