Review Summary: In the dark that is today's metalcore scene, The Word Alive's great debut album shines through it all with its originality, technicality, and brutality. While they certainly did not invent metalcore, they are definitely one of the bands helping to reshape
Most metalcore bands today lack originality and all seem to blend together. But The Word Alive, with their debut album, shows they are certainly a force to be reckoned with. Instead of utilizing mindless chugging and thirty-plus breakdowns in every song, they use complex instrumentals (even the occasional guitar solo) laced with synth parts that work with the music instead of just being a distraction like with most metalcore bands that utilize synthesizers and keyboards. The instrumentals are also fronted by amazing vocals by Tyler "Telle" Smith who can effortlessly switch from brutal harshes to beautiful cleans and back again. All of the members' musical talents really shine, and works together to produce a wonderful sound that will impress even those who have lost all hope in metalcore.
The album begins with the perfect opening track, The Hounds of Anubis. This track impresses from just about every angle, with beautiful, technical rhythms, a great chorus, an intricate solo, and a brutal breakdown. Further into the album, there is another great track, The Wretched, which also demonstrates the great metalcore The Word Alive produces, with more technical instrumentals, a chorus that will leave listeners hungering for more, and includes another fantastic breakdown. Following another track, there is one of the strongest songs on the album: 2012. This track, along with The Hounds of Anubis, truly showcases the great music that The Word Alive can produce. It follows the same basic structure of the aforementioned tracks, but still, like all of the other tracks, is completely different in its own way. This is good, as many metalcore albums today have songs borrowing almost the exact rythym of other songs on said album, which is just another way The Word Alive showcases their originality.
Every song on this album is impressive, and showcases originality and musicality that modern metalcore rarely sees, leaving The Word Alive as one of the most impressive recent metalcore bands to emerge onto the scene. While they may not be the biggest band in metalcore yet, this album certainly displays that they definitely could become as such in the future, with the great promise shown from Deceiver. A band with so much talent is rarely seen, and should not go unnoticed, as they could very well change the more recent metalcore scene for the better.
