Review Summary: Metalcore focusing on the metal parts
When I was on a family vacation in Mauritius a guy named Josh said to me "Sweden is the country of rock". End of story. Oh wait, this is swedish rock. I've grown out of this kind of music really but since they've been around since the time I liked it and this is a band from my hometown I might aswell try to give it a decent review.
Last View has built up quite a reputation in among swedish hardcore fans. With their fastpaced riffs, dual singers and predictable songwriting. Hell in Reverse is not a step forward from their previous release the ep "Become the Storm", but it's not a step back either. This is simply a band who has found their brand of metalcore and they will countinue in their familiar tracks.
Hell in Reverse starts with a heart monitor beaping who gets more and more intense. Then, out of nowhere a fast paced generic metalcore riff gets thrown in your face and shortly after that vocalist No. 1 presents himself. Both the vocalists countinue to bring decent performances through the whole album even though when they go outside of their normal angry shouting vocal technique and try some lows, you will soon notice there's nothing special about these guys. Vocally there's nothing noticable about any of the songs and as far as lyrical themes. They're what you expect of metalcore. Combine that with avarage drumming and a hardly audiable bass. You get the jist of what this is about. I usually don't bash breakdowns cos I'm a corekid and all. But I've got a limit. When every song contains at least 3 breakdowns and almost everyone of them is presented to the listener with a one liner like "Proclaim the demigods" and the classical "Oh!" it kinda messes up the flow of the album. And not even those generic metalcore guitars can save this album from being repedative, predictable and avarage.
But there are some standout moments. The track "It's True" is a 48 second long display of how great metalcore actually can be. It just takes the sense of the genre and mashes it into a short and focused song. Another highlight is ending track "Relive Us" maybe not because it's a great song but at least it brings something new to the record. Not just the same old fast-speed-riff-drums/one liner/breakdown/fast-speed-riff-drum formula. A third memorable thing to comment is the fact that a song is called "M. Dutroux", that's plain and simple humour right there.
To be honest this is from time to time a enjoyable listen even if it's not in any way flawless. Almost like a action movie. It's not making any sense, the main caracter (metalcore) always comes out on top and it can give you some pleasure, kill some time but in the end it's nothing memorable. If you're not a scene kid like me you'd probably do best to stay away from this album.
