Review Summary: b=(theghostinside)^3/4
Betrayal’s previous EP, titled ‘The People’s Fallacy,’ was your run-of-the-mill beatdown hardcore album. Packed with plenty of chugging, breakdowns, and monotonous yells, it fell short of impressive. Fast-forward two years; we have their debut full-length ‘Abandonment’ being released. Will it stand up as one of the great modern hardcore releases, or will it fall into the cesspool of average albums that get a play-through or two in iTunes before being forgotten about?
Much like the opening track of this album, I came into it with low expectations. My previous encounter with the band was less-than-stellar, and the Emmure-esque album art wasn’t making me want to listen to it anymore than I already did.
The album begins with a rally of drums, followed by a cliché spit, and then erupts into an ear-pounding instrumental assault before being hijacked by lead vocalist Brendan’s consistent yell. In true hardcore fashion, the first track contains unnecessary swearing, well-placed gang vocals, and a breakdown that is guaranteed to make kids in a circle pit flail aimlessly at one another. If this is all this album has to bring, Betrayal is in trouble.
As the album rolls through, the same elements can be noticed through almost every song: a bombastic instrumental frenzy or breakdown introduction, inspiring lyricism, repeating simplistic chugging, inaudible bass, acceptable drumming, a breakdown, and more humdrum hardcore hailing until the track dies down.
However, the album is not all bad. Betrayal expose a few moments in each song where a possibly good band refrains from showing face. (Acoustic section and 80’s-type solo in cleverly-titled Interlude, gang singing chorus in The Good Die Young, among other short-lived interesting snippets from guitarist Sean’s down-tuned machine) In these rarities, I find the musicianship rather enjoyable. The band appears to be a notch ahead of their counterparts, producing as fine a moment as the genre can bring.
Unfortunately, for both the band and its listeners, the gems of this album are few and far between. The album itself feels like a second-rate rip off of The Ghost Inside, including the (sometimes) positive lyrics. While the album isn’t all that bad, I can’t shake the feeling that it could have easily been significantly better. It does pass off as a pleasurable listen, but it doesn’t come close to sustaining any replay value.
