Becoming The Archetype is a christian metal band formed in 1999. They blend the elements of progressive metal, thrash, hardcore, and death metal. They have been called the saviors of a dying genre, And in the christian music scene the new Mortal Treason. I wont argue either. These guys are a breath of fresh air, Since their lsat highly proclaimed album "Terminate Damnation" i have been anticipating this cd for months and I am absolutly blown away.
Wow. This cd dominates their last cd in every single way. Every part of musician ship has improved muchhh more, every song has at least up to 2-3 shredding solos (Some sweep picking added in, Spiffy eh?). The production on this cd is much better too, The last one there were a few parts in the cd where it seemed a bit fuzzy and staticy n' such.
1. Epoch of War - Starts with gentle strings and peaceful guitar playing with some choir keyboard being played. All the sudden it explodes into a heavy metal frenzy as Jason let's out a high pitched scream from the bottom of his diaphram. After the intro of melodic epic sounding riffs it bursts into a triplet played riff, Slayer style. Near the end they mix the brutal growls of Jason and Opeth style clean vocals from the guitarist. This is the fist time they've experimented with the clean vocals and I must say, It definatly works. 4.5/5
2. Immolation - First we hear a fast, technical drum fill and the song comes at you with a very layered guitar riff of octaves, rolling chords and drop-c power chords with a solo being played over it. Then we hit the verse of a nice double picked riff and the drums played at an angry fast fury with Jason brutally growling over it. After we go through a few guitar breaks of some catchy riffs the song slows down with a jazzy piano piece and the clean vocals come in once again. Ah yes Im liking this style. Then we have another guitar solo come in over the piano. Absolutly epic, I really love this guy's style. Very clean and smooth, yet shredding. The song then picks up again at a medium pace, a bit chaotic sounding. The song ends with it going back to the intro riff
5/5
3. Autopsy - This would probubly be the most "Brutal" track on the album. Dissonant chords, scale-like riffs. Double-bass madness. The entire song is mainly fast paced never slowing down for anything. Just angry riffs and tortured growls. Randomly at about the last 1:20 of the song it slows down and a slow clean guitar riff is played, slowly building up for a final breakdown of Jason yelling "Set me on fire". I will admit this took me a few listens to get into. Oh and, there is a sinister sounding solo
4/5
4. The Great Fall - We get a fast pull-off/hammer on starting riff with a march-like drum beat. I wont lie..The it reminds me of As I lay dying a bit. Only with talent. (Oh yes, I just ripped on as I lay dying. not that anyone cares because most people hate them). The beginning solo in this song some how seems to go along with the drums almost. I really don't care for this one too much, I know a lot of people like it but i never really got into it. Till around the end when they throw in some keyboard choir stuff along with the blazing riffs.
3/5
5. Nocturne (Instrumental) - On their last cd, they had one of the most beautiful acoustic instrumental tracks i've ever heard so I was very excited to see what they would do for this instrumental track. This is basically just show-casing what the band can do. Starts off with some very nice relaxing piano music. the double bass starts building up a bit more and more, palm muted chug guitars start coming in and out. all while piano music is still playing. This one could've had a guitar solo thrown in here to make it really great, Nevermore instrumental style. but they left it out. Oh well, not too bad for an instrumental
3.5/5
6. Monolith - Starts off with one of my favorite riffs, reminds me of warriors fighting an epicly dark battle (Yeah I sound geeky. Screw you.). This song probubly is probubly one of their lighter ones on the cd, the drum beat seems more headbanging oriented in it. Probubly going to be a crowd favorite. Riff after great riff in this song. at about 1:04 the piano comes in with another jazz sounding piece, and of course the great Opeth styled clean vocals start which just really adds to the song, Building up to the next guitar solo which is yet another shredtastic crusade of metal guitar playing. right after the solo the song just picks up and the drummer sounds as if he's going as fast as he possibly can on the double bass and snare, with a melodic-ish octave guitar riff being played over it while Jason growls his vocals out. The song ends with the intro riff
5/5
7. Construct And Collapse - We get some depressing funeral sounding organ music for a while, then of course just like Epoch of war, It explodes into Jason screaming "GO!" in a aggressive cliche metal way. The chug triplet drop-c guitar riffs kick in. This song has a bit more of a death metal sound to it than the other ones. Nearly every riff in it is completly sinister. Basically the song just goes breakdown-guitar break-breakdown-guitar break-breakdown over and over. Which works quite well for this song
4.5/5
8. Endure - This is the band's first single and first music video ever. Also the shortest track on the album. It just really doesn't seem up to quality for the other songs. The only thing that really impresses me on this track is the extremly fast and technical drumming going on. It is quite catchy though, radio frendly-ish.
3.5/5
9. Fire Made Flesh - They waste no time getting into this one, just starts immidatly. At the beginning the song kinda sounds bland, but there is some nice technical riffing going on. Of course they put in a piano interlude like the others, But for some reason the piano interludes never get old when it comes to BTA.
4/5
10. Second Death - It immidatly starts off different than the other tracks, cleaning singing from the start. Till Jason comes in with a long up-rising growl. This song just has section after section of Intense riffing, technical drumming ect. ect. you never know what's going to happen next. at 1:48 this absolutly insane technical riff comes in while Jason is still screaming. I'd say this song definatly show-cases all the band's musical talent than the other songs. This has it all, Absolutly GREAT clean vocals. Even a slow melodic solo. The song ends with clean guitar rolling chords and a laid back drum beat. One of my favorite tracks on the cd
5/5
11. The Balance Of Eternity - The last track on the cd clocking at 8:49. The instrumentals in this song would go perfectly with an epicly dark moment in..Lord of the rings or somthing like that. After a long of breakdowns, random changes in tempo, guitar solos, chug riffs, technical riffs and dissonant chords. the cd finally ends with silence.
Overall - I think the band was influenced by Opeth a bit when they made this cd. With all the slow interludes and clean vocals keeping all the songs very interesting. They make a great use of piano, mainly using jazz and..dark funeral-ish piano parts. Jason's vocals are absolutly great, But his bass isn't very audible except for parts here and there. This cd is pretty diverse and you wont end up losing your attention, which is what i find myself doing with many metal records. This album is destined to delight the ears of metal listeners. No matter what kind of metal your into, Definatly give this cd a listen.
