Beartooth
Aggressive


2.5
average

Review

by Snide USER (30 Reviews)
May 28th, 2016 | 84 replies


Release Date: 2016 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Fatigue personified

Beartooth took the core scene by storm when they dropped their debut album “Disgusting”; the blend of Caleb Shomo’s brash vocal style, and highly energetic instrumental work created a nice blend of hardcore / metalcore bangers that never really lost steam. This album is the very definition of sophomore slump, and ironically it lacks all of the aggression that Beartooth used to have. “Aggressive” is an album that shows a once lively band going through the motions in an attempt to recapture what they had on their debut.

The problem with this record is that it tries to be “raw” without having any of the anger or punchy tones that the debut had; a lot of this can actually be blamed on the production values, which are far too clean and closer to that “wall of sound” style that a lot of bands in the genre try to go for. Caleb himself has matured as a vocalist; his screams have a more consistent tone and his range has improved, but his delivery is calmer than it used to be. His clean performance has always been top notch and this hasn’t changed, although the songwriting and placement of said cleans make them feel awkward and forced in some places. As for the instrumental aspect of the album, it’s majorly the same as their debut; Caleb screams or whispers some kind of intro, then a bouncy riff comes in, then it follows typical verse chorus structuring, this time without all the energy or more of the technicality that was present before. The drumming has been noticeably simplified this time around and that also brings down the fun factor of this record; the lack of interesting fills or speed contributes to this record’s misgivings. Leaning more towards the metalcore spectrum rather than hardcore is what hurt this record the most, as modern metalcore is more focused on melodies rather than impact and energy.

Overall, this is nowhere near the best effort that this band could bring to the table. Maybe Caleb’s just tired, maybe he was given pressure from his record label to release a more accessible record; either way, Beartooth’s sophomore slump is a perfect example of a band losing their spark and going through the motions in an attempt to cover up a lack of motivation.



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user ratings (352)
2.9
good
other reviews of this album
JacobMGreenia76 (4)
“Aggressive” showcases Beartooth’s progression without doing away with the core elements that ...

ryanmfears (4.5)
Beartooth make little effort to reinvent the wheel, but deliver a solid follow up to their 2014 debu...



Comments:Add a Comment 
Snide
May 28th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

A nice, short little review; this album really disappointed me as I really dug their debut.

Critique always welcome!

Title Track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5zUxN-Kvy0

Brett W
May 28th 2016


375 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

agreed. Sophomore slump is definitely a great description. This is my 2nd worst disappointment so far this year. I loved Disgusting, but this feels like Caleb was trying to make Disgusting 2.0. Terribly disappointing. But, for future reference. I've been ripped apart for reviewing leaks, so try not to, I guess.

Brett W
May 28th 2016


375 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

anyway, nice review. pos'd

Snide
May 28th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I thought this was released already?

Shit. Thanks though!

Mods I had no idea this wasn't released yet, I assumed since I saw it all over Youtube.

Feel free to remove.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
May 28th 2016


11564 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

i liked disgusting and the sick ep a lot but two of the four singles seemed a little weak. the other two were pretty good. idk ill probably review this sometime once i hear it

Snide
May 28th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

It's just a weak album imo. Disgusting was far better, so was Sick.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
May 28th 2016


11564 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

oh yea if you hadn't looked it up yet the album comes out june 3rd apparently

parksungjoon
May 28th 2016


47231 Comments


good writeup snide

never heard of this band

Sinternet
Contributing Reviewer
May 28th 2016


26570 Comments


so poor and i moderately enjoyed the debut

Snide
May 29th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Thanks park!

Yeah Game I thought it was out already, I done goofed

This disappointed me because I really dig their debut

William21
May 29th 2016


873 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

That summary kinda describes how I feel about this band in general.

Snide
May 29th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

For me it's only this album that's tired; the rest of their discog kicks ass.

Calc
May 29th 2016


17340 Comments


"I thought this was released already?"

don't worry it's apparently fine to review leaks now. i'll listen to the song you linked for poops and laughs

Snide
May 29th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I was really looking forward to this, and it makes me sad that this disappointed me so much.

Spec
May 29th 2016


39404 Comments


Heard a song off of this and it was meh. Don't know if I'll get this.

Snide
May 29th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Meh is pretty much the perfect descriptor for this album.

RogueNine
May 30th 2016


5537 Comments


DevilDriver called, they want their album cover back.

Snide
May 30th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I completely forgot how similar the album cover was to DevilDriver's new album cover.

Both of the album covers are kinda shit though.

Snide
July 9th 2016


7050 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Title track is okay, but going back and revisiting this kinda bums me out.

Their first album was so great.

Prototypeplaya5
July 12th 2016


6 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

feels like much less passion and effort going into this than what went into disgusting and sick.



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