You know you're onto a good thing when you find a band made up of QLD Conservatory students, especially ones who are metal heads, and ESPECIALLY when they're metal heads into such a variety of metal and who want to pull a lot of it together to make something unique. DLO is definitely that.

Certified Nerdcore is the band's debut release and is from start to unfortunately quick finish an EP full of twists and turns, highs and lows and a whole lot of awesome musicianship. Front man and Brisbane band all-rounder Mick Millard shows why he is one of Brisbane's most sought after prog metal bassists and his intense screaming effects-laden vocals slam through the aggressive music in a way that punctuates it so brilliantly. Though screaming isn't the only order of the day. Millard also delivers some very cool Patton-esque clean vocal passages that mix up the feel of the album really well. Guitarist and other Brisbane band jack-of-all-trades Chris Lait brings his unique and powerful guitar talents to the DLO mix which serves to compliment Millard's bass lines at every point of the EP. Under it all lies the third part of this extreme progressive metal triumvirate with Richie Young on drums helping to pull this complex and rhythmically intense band together.

From the driving intro to the opening track "Seconds" it's clear that this is a heavy band. The song takes us through a few changes of pace and the first introduction of Millard's dual vocal talents as well as the bands ability to blend and change from the insanely heavy blast beat filled passages to jazzy interludes and back to riffing sections with apparent ease. A great opener and introduction to the band. Millard, it must be said, is some what of a multi-tasker in the studio also adding keys and samples to the mix to give a very unique and contrasting aural experience.

The second and fifth tracks are intro tracks to their following songs and move through some great atmospheric and ambient moments that draw the listener towards the musical force they are about to experience. In an almost luring into a state of false security the track "Intro To Demerit" finishes with the serene sounds of a waterfall before the blistering track starts and almost tears your face off by the ears. The track "Demerit "has a swipe at those bastards we all hate...cops hiding behind trees with speed cameras. It has audio recordings of Australian news readers and phone conversations talking about speed camera stories in the news, and I have to say it's actually awesome to hear Australian accents being used in audio samples. I defy anyone to listen to the outro of this song without banging their head involuntarily.

"Small Furry Animals" follows and smashes through a heavy intro and versus to find itself in a very floating and ambient sounding middle section with delayed vocals and a very relaxed feel. Don't let this fool you one bit though, the song returns to it's brutal and fast roots sure enough and powers through to a great fast and abrupt ending. Poor furry animals...where do they run when we are fucking up their homes? I'd love to see Greenpeace use this track as an anthem...that would be just about the coolest thing ever.

"Intro To Fat Ninjaz Revenge" brings us along through a keyboard sample maze into what is one of my favourite tracks on the album, "Fat Ninjaz Revenge". Maybe I always wanted to be a fat ninja...who knows. Anyway this track appears and sounds to be directed at someone and though I'm not sure who.... I'd hate to be that guy. Musically "Fat Ninjaz Revenge" is heavy and driving and has a great groove to it. Definitely another head banger of a track, which I'm pretty sure I have done live more than once. The middle section is one of my favourite parts of the track, with a great riff and groove and the occasional low frequency sub hit that at high volume absolutely rules and will rumble any fat ninjaz belly. The mid section leads out to a massive brutal bridge that breaks down quickly and builds up again with Millard switching between his harsh screams and floating clean vocals. This all leads to the eventual and unfortunately worst part of this EP...the end.

While I have to accept the fact that this is an EP, it's so enjoyable that it really makes me long for these guys to get an album out where we can be annihilated by this music for longer than 18 minutes...though...I can imagine it will be a delightfully exhausting 45+ minutes when an album is put out.

Dead Letter Opener proves with Certified Nerdcore that they are not only one of the most enjoyable live bands in Brisbane today, but they can also deliver a huge amount of energy in a recorded product that has great replay value. An EP full of a huge range of styles and influences that all come together in an awesome blend of sound that put DLO in a great position to cross over into a lot of musical markets, and they definitely have the skill to do well in all of them.

Fans of Mike Patton's projects like Fantomas and Tomahawk and bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan would do well to check out Dead Letter Opener.

Certified Nerdcore is available through Green Media Distribution at all leading retailers, online through Waterfront Records and digitally online worldwide through iTunes.