Review Summary: Fantastic showcase of technical rhythms and quirky, catchy guitar riffs, melded together in an accessible yet rewarding listen. Botch display a masterful approach to writing memorable and intuitive metalcore on this album and more.
In terms of leading acts who have helped to pioneer the metalcore scene, Botch are definitely one of the bands who were at the forefront of the movement. Their mix of technicality, sporadic moments of guitar ingenuity and their superb ability to write catchy riffs have earned them a place in the hearts of many old-school metalcore fans. Their seminal release, We Are the Romans, is an intelligent and well polished album which holds host to a number of superb tracks showcasing a band who weren't just years ahead of their time in sound and style but also leaders in the forefront of memorable and interesting metalcore. The album begins with To Our Friends in the Great White North, a great opener to a great album. A well measured and rhythmically technical riff features in the introduction, and the amalgam of clever and sweetly composed interplay between all the instruments is evident throughout. A short section of vocals and drums where the lyric 'it's your fault, ***ing up the kids' is repeated helps to break the song up. Things move along nicely with Mondrian Was a Liar, showcasing more of the ever shifting guitar riffs but an album highlight comes in the form of Transitions from Persona to Object. The opening guitar riff is incredibly memorable (a rhythmically complex tapping riff) and as the song progresses, evidence of the bands ability to create intelligent and almost oxymoron simple yet complicated riffs shows.
A breather is taken on Swimming the Channel Vs Driving the Chunnel, as the pace is slowed right down with the focus on melody being at the forefront. Whispered spoken word drifts in and out of the track before the pace is quickened yet again with the follow up track C. Thomas Howell as the "Soul Man". This track displays a frenetic pace, complete with sets of riffs that bounce between groove and atonality, as well as tempo shifts and syncopation. Definitely one of the highlights of the album. The middle section of the song is nothing short of perfection, with excellently measured guitar tapping and a buzzing bass line.
Saint Matthew Returns to the Womb is a track carried mostly by dissonant guitar and bouncy, off-tempo riffs. Much in the same vein as the previous efforts displayed on the album, it is a masterful showing of how to organise together superb, calculated riffs and rhythms, polished off perfectly with angry, yet decipherable, vocals. Frequency Ass Bandit is a slower, more chord-orientated song yet, in no small measure does it feature those winding, ever technical guitar riffs that the album is laced in from start to finish. Album closer Man the Ramparts is a powerhouse of pounding guitar chords and yelled vocals before winding down into a hypnotic and cyclic section of music that again builds as the vocalist echoes the albums title.
In much the same way as Converge and Coalesce helped to pioneer the metalcore scene, Botch (this album in paticular) are a firm reminder that they were also at the forefront of the genre movement. Whilst not as chaotic as Converge, nor as groove-orientated as Coalesce, the bands ability to fuse together rhythmical technicality with quirky guitar riffs and catchy song arrangements proves that Botch are just as important in the genre as any other pioneering act. Truly remarkable album by a remarkable band.
Recommended Tracks
To Our Friends in the Great White North
Transitions from Persona to Object
C. Thomas Howell as the "Soul Man"
Saint Matthew Returns to the Womb
