Review Summary: Is it a hero or a fake?
A Hero A Fake have recently started to cause a stir with their blend of melodic metalcore and progressive metal styles. From what has been gathered via advertisements that praise the band, the North Carolina-based sextet supposedly play their cards right and utilize the various aspects of their genres to create a competent creation. Now their new sophomore album
Let Oceans Lie has been released, and they supposedly sound even better than their somewhat dodgy debut
Volatile; somehow three singers
and three guitarists are able to create an impressive final product, and what could have been a typical foray into sappy chorus melodies and a plethora of ear-bleeding screams during the verses actually works rather well. Well, let’s see if the rumors are right. Does what could possible be a horrendous mess actually sound good in practice?
In the grand scheme of things, yes, yes it does sound pretty good. Instrumentally the band is sound and vigorous. Progressive and varied song structures comprise the majority of
Let Oceans Lie--a heavy emphasis being placed on the
progressive structures--and the young group of boys have improved on the generic feel of their debut. Admittedly, with three guitarists, the band has a lot to work with in the area of diverse and versatile riff creations. For example, second cut “Swallowed By The Sea” is a success, not because of the vocals, but because of the impressive leads that inhabit the majority of the song. Likewise, the six minute “Dear” is able to hold our attention thanks to the escapades that Eric Morgan, Patrick Jeffers, and Dan take on throughout the course of the track; there’s really not a predictable moment throughout. May I not forget the at first, conventional-sounding “Impart Your Loss”: a flurry of familiar-sounding riffs start the song and weave an entirely different picture altogether than the sum of their parts; on top of which, Dan and Justin Brown are able to bounce off each other with their clean and harsh vocal styles to relay their message of self-disclosure. As has been the case in the past, a band’s use of three guitarists can quickly become a dodgy and unnecessary inclusion; for the most past, however, the North Carolina sextet does take careful steps in trying to utilize their flexible fret board options without jamming their product with an unnecessary overabundance of material.
The main problem with A Hero A Fake’s
Let Oceans Lie comes in the polar quality of the vocals. Whereas the screams are brutal, driven, and more importantly, believable, the clean chops often come across as whiny, and in context of a transition from verse to chorus, awkward and out of place. Bands such as Protest the Hero have perfected the art of transitioning from a scream to a clean vocal part, however, A Hero A Fake are just not there yet. Though the clean vocals are admittedly a problem, the inclusion of some catchy melodies does distract from this issue--songs like opener “Our Summit, This World” and the title track are catchy inclusions that benefit from the installments of melodic choruses. Also worth mentioning is the ballad of the album as it is probably the best utilization of the clean singer. “Images” starts on acoustic arpeggios behind a love-sick performance. Following a popular pattern, the song then escalates into guitar distortion and transitions into more screams. What is now a routine exercise in music is actually pulled off effectively--the one instance where the clean vocal problems do not distract from A Hero A Fake’s performance. Fortunately, the scale of clean to harsh singing styles is weighted more to the latter’s favor on
Let Oceans Lie; “Eckhart” doesn’t even include them, and most of the tracks that do are reserved in the way that they pull from the singer.
So getting down to the main question: is the North Caroline sextet a
hero or a
fake? To be honest, it’s still a little too early to tell. “A Year In Passing” finalizes the album and contains all the elements that listeners can come to expect when listening to
Let Oceans Lie: clean to harsh vocals, tempo changes, likable melodies, and progressive songwriting. The characteristics of the album are positioned correctly, but they just need some more refinement. Admittedly, the inclusion of three guitar players and three singers was a dangerous move, but--excluding the aforementioned vocal issues--the band is able to pull everything together decently without a catastrophe in the process. In many ways, this album is an improvement over 2008’s
Volatile; whereas the debut suffered from generic and boring song structures,
Let Oceans Lie takes the familiarity of that album, refreshes the formula, and creates a somewhat unique sound for the band to call their own. With the beginnings what can be their own distinct signature in the genre, it appears the North Carolina sextet are well on their way to making a name for themselves.
