Review Summary: Adeste has created an album that combines all the right elements, and it makes for an excellent listen.
One of the things that can keep a genre alive are bands willing to go beyond what they know and do to create something fresh. With so many groups trying this or that, experimenting with sometimes ridiculous ideas, many just concentrate on the things that make their genre worth listening to. If you’re willing to combine so many aspects to create something new than you just might have the ability to be a stand out group. Adeste was a tough band to spot, after hours of searching on Myspace and adding this band and that band, I just happened to click on these guys and it was really worth the hours of searching.
This post-hardcore group from Orlando, Florida has every bit of talent to become more noticed. They are a band that you can consider fresh, they do everything to define their genre without trying to hard on fitting in with the “in crowd”. Their debut album “In Parables” is easy at times to get lost in, from the couple carefully orchestrated instrumental tracks to the hard hitting screamed verses, all followed by precisely placed vocal lines which all comes together for a wonderful listening experience. Whether your looking for breakdowns or melodic choruses, it’s all here and done fantastically.
That’s one of the things that makes this band stand out to me, the fact that they do everything without overdoing it. They know exactly where to place a breakdown or a nice little synth section, and it always sounds right. The instrumental tracks like album opener ‘Dawning’ and ‘Stasis’ are carefully crafted little tracks, they never hit over the two minute point, yet they are there and sound right. They don’t do it randomly just to relax the listener, it actually is a great little moment to capture the mood and feel of the album. The band also has it’s heavier moments, in the track ‘Departure’, there is a catchy little chant moment that comes back later in the album with a slight little twist.
The best element of this band are their vocals, while screaming vocalist Nathan Purr has a very familiar sounding scream, he has a great range. Whether it’s his highs or his lows, they always sound good and really help out the heavier, faster paced moments of the songs. Both guitar players in the band throw in a little bit of singing, Morgan Hopfensperger and Marco Randazzo, though I can’t tell a real difference between them, both do an amazing job. Their best times are the slower more vocal based moments, where we have some slight guitar and synth in the back with the singing louder than the rest.
Instrumentally, the guitarists do an amazing job, I just wish they had a little more technicality in some moments. Through most of the songs they remain simple, but have their few moments where they can toss in a little riff or two, but there are so many more moments where they could’ve taken advantage of their talent. Drummer Jeff McMaster is average, but good. Yet again, he has the ability to do so much better at times but never really captures it. Another great element of this band is their synth playing, and Brian Waters knows just how to do it. He never takes over, but always does a great job at improving the song with a few little touches here and there.
“In Parables” is an album you have to hear, and since it’s one of the few bands I’ve found lately that have captured me as much as they have, they are certainly up there in my favorites list. In my opinion, find the lyrics and listen along, it’s an album that will make you wish all post-hardcore groups could create music like them. I know I sound like I might be giving this band a little too much credit, but I really want to see this band do bigger things, and without support and fans they wouldn’t be where they are now.
