Review Summary: Beneath The Sky has brought the metalcore scene a deluxe combo of perpetual brutality, signature roaring, and clear-singing, all this with the accompaniment of various melodic riffs in the background. Thrilling.
When the Cincinnati band first released their debut
More Than You Can Handle, it didn't appeal to a majority of listeners. Well, at least now that I've thoroughly played and re-played the tracks over and over on my computer and from my iPod, I can understand. But so drastic was the improvement from the first album to their second full-length album signed to Victory Records (Atreyu, Emmure, Darkest Hour),
What Demons Do To Saints is truly a masterpiece. If you like heavy guitar riffs, melodic sessions in the background, and an extremely strong vocal, this is for you.
A few things worth mentioning would include the vocal's intense roars, the song structures, and the lyrics. Vocalist Joey Nelson has a piercing scream that, if I was to think of a similar sound, would have to be Haste The Day's old vocalist's scream, except much more amplified. Switching between deep roars of tremendous energy and powerful screams, Joey fills the songs with variety so that there it doesn't get boring. An example is provided in
The Reason. He sings
My love will rise. four consecutive times at the beginning of the song, changing from the deepest roar to the highest, most frightening scream. There is no definite song structure in this album, because for each track, it's different. For example in
7861, you have Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Breakdown/End. Then, in
Being In a Coma, it's something like Intro, Verse, Chorus, Breakdown, Verse, Chorus, End (which is characterized by soft piano tunes leading into guitar and clear-singing). Yes, very confusing, but that's how it's not tiring to listen to numerous times. Finally, the lyrics from this band are often metaphorical or has some sort of plot behind it.
7861 actually tells of a story of a man who died in the address stated in the song, precisely, 7861 Blackthorne.
The melodies in this album are somewhat similar to those in I Killed The Prom Queen's Music For the Recently Deceased and Parkway Drive's Killing With a Smile, only a bit slower. As for breakdowns, there aren't that many, and they aren't usually lead up that often by the band like the way Unearth-ly bands do; they just kinda pop out.
The clear-singing is also very distinctive, as it is not the young, punk-like type (The Devil Wears Prada, Emarosa), but mature, crisp, and just right. Clear-singing is a hard thing to match with the constant roaring characteristic in most metalcore bands, but Beneath The Sky sure knows how to do it well.
Highlights of this album would definitely have to be...
The Reason
7861
Being In a Coma Is Hell Carried On
