Review Summary: With "Amen" we have an album (and a band for that matter) that is not afraid to be in your face but is also not afraid to just let go of that aggression and let the music take the listener to another state of mind.
There has been a lot of bands who have and continue to transcended the scope of aggressive music by pushing the boundaries so far that the genre they are associated with or defined has gone far beyond those pigeon holed ideas.Whether it be Neurosis who have mixed tribal sounds,atmospheric guitars,and soundscapes with the pure aggression of metal or Converge who have blended together hardcore punk with mathy and intricate instrumentation with aggressive attributes of metal these bands have shown time and time again that music or just the genre of metal is so much more then the labels we try to place upon it.With Young And In The Way we have a band that is not afraid to step out of their comfort zone to explore new ideas and dimensions in punk music and take it to a darker and and even more ambient place of existence and "Amen" is exactly that and more.While there is a definitely a strong crust,almost metallic hardcore punk influence on "Amen" there is so much more to be discovered on here then just that.
Atmosphere and space plays as big of a part on this album as punk does with tracks like the opener "Hell Is Other People" were heavily distorted guitar and bass slowly ring out and verges on being drone at times until finally the song reaches it's height almost as if it's ready to explode with all instruments playing and bleeds into the next song "Dark Seed" which is one of the more metallic hardcore influenced songs on here and continues on the next three songs "Earth","Worrier" and "Eye of Providence".Vocally it's pretty much your standard metallic hardcore/crust punk sounding vocals and the best comparison is that of Ryan Mckenny of Trap Them but does change up on the song "White Light" where vocalist Kable Lyall is doing almost a spoken word which is covered in effects with the instruments playing steadily in unison giving this track a very airy,and at the same time, claustrophobic feel to it.With White Light's ending we come to the final track to this album which is probably the most experimental and probably the best track on here which is thirteen minutes titled "The Becoming".It starts off with the guitar playing a very solemn sounding chord progression and as the track progresses each instrument starts to join in with the drums accenting the guitar parts very nicely with the toms and the bass slowly and steadily playing until finally everything explodes until all the instruments ceasing except the guitar and then the vocals kick in and everything explodes again giving the track and almost push and pull feel to it.
Although this album does roughly only last thirty minutes in length it definitely keeps you engaged and never wears it's welcome on the listener by blending so many different musical ideas and influences with some being familiar to a lot of people while still keep the music new and original.It's good to see a young and relatively new band getting out of their comfort zone and actually try to make something that's new and creative in a time and age where their is way too many bands staying within a certain genre or style and not really reinventing the wheel.This band and this album is most definitely worth your time to check out and look for this band to making a very big step in the world of extreme music in the years to come.
