Review Summary: Not the worst, but no where near the best.
Canadian Metal, it consists of some of the best bands around(Into Eternity, Cryptopsy, Despised Icon, Strapping Young Lad, and Unexpect). But since there is some great bands in Canada, you knew Victory records would get their hands on a Canadian metal band. Here comes Arise and Ruin who signed on June 4th. I knew nothing of this signing, but I found out about this band late last week through a Victory metal Sampler that came with my The Autumn Offering Street Team package. The two tracks peaked my interest but is their debut album “The Final Dawn” up to par with those two tracks?
The vocals by Ryan Bauchman are that gritty mixture of hardcore and metal that will make both genres’ fans happy. Ryan really does not have a very wide range that he uses and it gets boring about midway through the album. In [End of The Road[/b] his vocals finally change for about one word and it showed great potential for his range to diversify. On
To The Grind it sounds like on a few lines they used vocal effects to make the vocals sound better. I do not like how Ryan’s lyrics likes to use the words “F*cking” or “F*ck.” It seems they are just thrown there to make him seem like a Bada.ss, when it really makes him seem like a wuss. Ryan just seems like a one-dimensional vocalist that will either need to widen his range or leave this band to help the out.
The guitars in the first song starts out with a pretty decent riff, nothing new but it holds the song down and has you headbanging to start out with. The guitars finally get into full swing on
The Final Dawn. While in the full swing, it is still nothing new and really is making Canadian Metal look bad. Brent Munger and Greg Richmond needs to learn how to write better guitar riffs. The riff in
To The Grind is so dull and uninspired it brings me to ask myself how this band ever got signed to any record deal. I will give credit where credit is due, the solo on
To The Grind was actually good. I will also give credit to the harmonizing guitars on
Amidst Devils.
The drums are really a best on this album. Derek Prince-Cox plays them loud and fast. They really take in the hardcore influence on the track
Bound By Blood.
End of the Road has a great drum intro that leads into some great drumming in the song. Derek is being highly underused in this band. He has the makings of being a great drummer but is being held back(see:
Amidst Devils).
This is not the worst album that’s ever been released, not even on Victory Records, but it could’ve been so much better. The vocals need to be more varied and non-monotone while the guitarists need to learn how to write better riffs. At this moment, there are two options for this band if they want to produce a great album. The drummer kicks everyone out of the band and starts anew, or the vocalist expands his range while the guitarists learn how to write decent riffs and solos.
2.70/5
Stream:
http://ariseandruin.imeem.com/playlist/q6Mybarq/arise_and_ruin_music_playlist/
