Review Summary: If Meshuggah had a grandchild, well you know what the fuck i mean
When I first heard the new single by APFP I had pretty high hopes for the new album. With its more than questioning album title The Marriage between Heaven and Hell, I must say I couldn’t wait to see how the band would do. To my surprise they know exactly what they’re doing as a band and what they’re going for.
with a more meshuggah type sound, if you ask me there goin in the right direction.
The first track ''The Eternal Female'' starts with at first listen, a very loud preacher who caught the holy ghost hard, then it goes into a paused silence then the songs jumps into gear as you hear the lead singer scream ''I AM THE REAPER'' then chaos as the guitarist go to town with a pitch harmonic frenzy, with the heavy slick meshuggah like riffs, hard hitting drumming that in my opinion improved greatly since there last album, which the drummer was kinda the same old same old drumming, and still with breakdowns that are more than plain, the songs keeps your attention throughout the whole album,
Most songs on the album have their highlights like ''Golden Barriers'' like in the 1:40 or so mark, there is a very fancy lead done that fits flawlessly with the song that catches you completely off guard.
This band has a thing for having the most fitting four word openers it seems me, like the song ''And Weep'' he screams ''YOUR GOD IS DEAD'' straight to a breakdown that just gets you ***ing pumped to find the closest person u can find to scream ''YOUR GOD IS DEAD'' to them.
lyrically the album is straight christian based, but i must admit some may be confused with there lyrics are as hard hitting as the For Today album Portraits. Which at the ending part of ''The Fall'' were a man says ''GOD HAS GIVEN ME THAT RIGHT, AND IF YOU DONT AGREE WITH ME YOU ARE AGAINST GOD'' pretty heavy way to end a song then start a new one saying ''YOUR GOD IS DEAD''
The vocals seem to pretty much consist of the same scream as the last releases, a one pitched monotoned scream, that has the intensity to get the point across and the lyrics also, not to say that a bad thing, but it would be nice for the screamer to get some type of other range. For after awhile u know what to expect to where it kind of gets boring but not to stop listening that is.
Being a Christian band there lyrics tend to have to do with faith, gaining and losing it. but even as a non religious person myself, I couldn’t help but scream the lyrics ''YOUR GODS NOT REAL'' if you have a problem with Christian type lyrics, you won’t like these lyrics, if anything the music will be a good reason to just push through the lyrics. i cant help but to sing ''IF I WERE GOD WE'D ALL BE DEAD!!!''
If there is anything that kind of lacks in this album is that there isn’t allot of the technical lead solo's that were in there previous release. APFP guitarists seem to keep it to a minimum , not really a bad thing but it would help to show their full capability as musicians has they had very amazing tech moments on ''Depravity''. also some songs tend to like just drag on more than they should, with such songs like ''The Eternal Females'' at the end of the song there is a breakdown that makes a fitting welcome, but then u think it would change but it just sits longer than needed to close the song out, leaving a ''damn I thought there was going to be something else there'' feeling to the listener.
The band makes some additions to the album sound as they add in some clean vocals in track ''The Fall'' and ''Trembling Hands'' they fit rather well with the song as it isn’t force like in a lets add some singing just because it would be cool. they thought it out to fit perfectly, it doesn’t take away from the songs heaviness and the song "The jealous Wings'' is a all clean vocal track with acoustic guitars that create a very pleasant atmosphere that u fall into. That is a nice prequel to the last song on the album ''The New Born Wonder’’ that is indeed one of the best songs on the album, were the screamer goes all out vocally and delivers hard. Then as the vocals stop u will get a pleasant surprise, for the Holy Ghost preacher makes a return to preach to you some more as the song fades out with a girl who end the album with these words ''YOUR JUDGEMENT IS COMING'' (creepy *** first time i heard it)
In closing the album is on my list of best this year so far, better than there last album and I know I’ll be blasting this album for quite some time. If you enjoyed APFP last album, you will indeed love this album. If you are new to this band or just looking for some way better metalcore that tends to come out these days. I say give these guys a listen.
Highlight tracks
The Eternal Female
The New Born Wonder
Golden Barriers
And Weep
Sick Silent America
