Review Summary: There is enough variety on here to convince most that Broadening the Daylight are not your run-of-the-mill breakdown-abusive metalcore band.
Broadening the Daylight have been teasing their debut for nearly two years now. Various lineup changes and production issues led to the band rerecording the entire record. Further lineup changes and production issues led to the release being postponed until November 13, 2015.
This is Theseus
A MAZE AND A SOUL (AN INTRODUCTION)
This track is pretty much just brief acoustic introduction to the record. Ryan Briddes, guitarist and clean vocalist, shows off his suburb range throughout the track. It builds and builds, but then cuts off rather short. I feel that this song should've just been a full song and not just an intro.
STANDING ON THE LINE OF SYMMETRY
The song opens with grooved-based riff that packs a powerful punch. Drummer Nick Ottaviano shows off some excellent drumming skills with some fast footwork and solid grooves a la Chris Adler of Lamb of God. Jacob Waina (vocals) shows off his range with some powerful varied screams throughout. The song has a decent enough chorus and a cool bridge section, before ending with an epic tapping riff. Overall a solid opening song.
THESEUS
In comparison to Standing's more positive edge, the title track is a notably darker song. It focuses around several different grooves, as well as featuring one of the better choruses on the record. There is a pretty epic bridge section as well as some interesting, almost gothic sounding choir vocals in the background. The song notably ends on the heaviest breakdown of the record, set up by an intense 17 second scream held out from Waina.
METROMETER
A delayed guitar riff leads into Metrometer, beginning with Waina shouting "Don't tell me what I amount to, I know what I believe" over another dark sounding guitar part. The song is definitely the most progressive song on the record, utilizing various time signatures including, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, and even 13/8 throughout. The song has to notable breakdowns, one very dark sounding towards the middle, and one at the end of the song that is so whacked it sounds like something Dillinger Escape Plan would do. It literally sounds as if the band is discombobulating.
INTEGRITY
The first single on the record, Integrity calls to mind a lot of the "old-school" metalcore a la Unearth or Shadows Fall. The song is also the shortest on the record (excluding the intro) and is also very fast paced. Ottaviano brings a lot to the table with blistering double bass and a thrashy edge, while Briddes executes lightning fast guitar riffs that hit very hard. There's also a cool bridge section featuring an interesting 7/8 breakdown. The song has a great chorus and ends on a epic outro that leads into the next song, His Hands Shall Bleed.
HIS HANDS SHALL BLEED
Arguably the best track on the record. The song picks up directly where Integrity left off. A tribal drum groove paves the way for an amazing twin lead. Some might be off-put by the fact the lyrics, as this is a Christian-themed song. The song continues to build until the first verse explodes into a fast thrashy section, which further leads way into a crazy double-timed blast beat section that sounds more akin to something out of a black metal song. The song reminds a lot of older Trivium, and was a great way to end the record. The song is succeeded by about a minute or so of silence
and then....
KELLY ABRAMS
A weird sample goes off signaling "Drop that track". This is followed by a hidden track: specifically, a rerecorded version of the song Kelly Abrams. Fans of the band will note that this was the band's first signal and first song to gain some notoriety. The song is essentially a joke, with a lot of made up phrases being used as lyrics. There is also a hilarious bass harmony during the final chorus. It is worth noting that this hidden track is not available on most downloaded versions of the album.
OVERVIEW
Broadening the Daylight deliver with Theseus. There is enough variety on here to convince most that Broadening the Daylight are not your run-of-the-mill breakdown-abusive metalcore band. It will definitely suit fans of the metalcore genre as well as pull people in from the progressive/tech genres with some of the tracks.
PROS:
+ Instrumentally solid throughout
+ Both vocalists have great range
+ Diverse enough to not feel monotonous
CONS:
- Production could be better
- Intro track should've been a full song
- Kelly Abrams
It is also worth noting that the albums artwork was designed in part by Porter McKnight from Atreyu, and has an epic quality to it that reminds one of the cover to something like BioShock.
OVERALL: 4/5
