Review Summary: ...with succinct ability to become memorable in a single listen...
Hailing from Sweden where the renowned influence of the Gothenburg sound sits upon a throne bowed down to by many metalheads and metal enthusiasts, Adept appears into this predigious scene showing up with a genre often scoffed at by metal purists and elitests. Metalcore has been so often seen as a fad genre with little hope to improve in musical merits and experimentation. Yet the genre has somehow been kept alive by many bands that proved otherwise, or at least had the talents to give it new breadth. While Adept may not have put too many new things to the table, one thing is definitely obvious: They are good at what they do.
Even if one might say the band uses many cliched writing styles so often heard in metalcore, one cannot deny that they are talented for pouring energy, variety, and obvious sincerity into their music. This young band shows potential and knowledge in what they are doing, and understands the technique of getting a crowd excited by achieving that unique power to inspire. Inspire being defined as having ability to make the listener know that keeping themselves glued to their seats is the last thing they want to do when the music plays.
The first song *The Business of Living* begins with a bam and doesn't let up. The confident and smooth transitions of every riff keeps the sound extremely interesting. The entire song passes by quickly but with succinct ability to become memorable in a single listen. The obviously punk inspired tone is one of the highlights of their album, and keeps heightening in intensity. In fact the whole first half of the album just blare with newfound confidence one song after the other. In the last half of the song *Shark Shark Shark*, the most memorable riffs and hooks accompanied by Tobias Ottoson's viscious drums rolls is an obvious crowd pleaser. *At Least...* has some great sing along moments accompanied by a catchy melodic guitar cast by a natural musical spotlight. It may dawn to the listener as the album progresses that Adept's punk spirit of confidence seems to only refresh itself one song after the other, and never wears the listener down.
The vocals performed by Robert Ljung is great both in the forms of growls, cleans, and the occasional punk-driven chants/choruses. The lyrics are admittedly blended together with cheesy subjects such as wars, relationships, threats, survival, betrayal, shedding blood, and man-eating sharks; yet the defiant and triumphant nature of the lyrics boasts of potential adrenaline rushes. One of the main theme that Ljung uses in his lyrics is the idea of being in total opposition against the world, facing reality and fear, and giving challenge to any force that may lay ahead his path with merciless aggression. It's a youthful take on individualism, but the potency of its general message is undeniable, such as when Ljung goes into poetics in *The Business of Living*:
Now i can't change my past but who the fuck are you to predict my future?/ The shadows we cast define our sole purpose/ therefore our wings must be broken/ It's in our hands and we need everyone's attention/ that hand in hand we will walk these streets with more pride and courage than ever before!/ It's in our hands!
For a young band that has just created its first debut, Adept can admit without modesty that they've made one of the strongest album in the metalcore genre. The sound is always energetic, but never approaches the realm of monotony. Their entire approach is to make interesting music that draws from the element of both variety and cohesive writing. The metalcore five-piece undeniably works well together on record and on stage. Their concert I attended had the entire crowd in an uproar. The surprise is that most of those who were in this crowd were acting in the usual part of the quiet and inconspicuous bystanders before Adept has appeared onstage. Their opening got everyone going and cheering on, until at one point everything was just turned into a positively surmounting raucous. When the closing song "At Least..." made its entrance, the inhibition level of everyone was at the lowest it could possibly get, and the small venue seemed like it was going to collapse as everyone participated and sang along to the chorus of a song they most likely barely heard for the first time. And as the last well-placed momentary chugging breakdown ended, the happy feeling of regret that this single night we owned in that concert hall was about to end reverberated in hearts of everyone
Recommended Tracks:
The Business Of Living
Shark! Shark! Shark!
Everything Dies
