Many people are oblivious to certain aspects of life, due to their unquestioning involvement in a mainstream system. They don’t truly worry about other people’s suffering, and cast a veil of ignorance over themselves, for they’re so far gone. Then there are some people who are in touch with themselves as well as others, and know how to connect with others through multiple forms of mediums. It’s these people that make the raw, emotional music we all enjoy, plus they obviously have fun or it wouldn’t come out so non-mechanical, but at the same time is everything you’ve wanted done right on a metalcore record.
At only 26 minutes, this debut album contains a pretty decent amount of different areas. You’ve got the expected brutal breakdowns, heavy melodic areas, brutal piano, and pretty piano but no matter what section it is, they’ve made it so the record is in your face the whole time. Right when you turn on the first track, a large wall of sound smashes your face, and you only hear the sounds of torture, blood curling female shrieks, and maniacal laughter. Sounds fun!
The songs as a whole don’t follow a specific formula, which may be why this doesn’t sound like every other metalcore band around. But at the same time, they don’t exactly bring anything new. However, what they bring is extremely well done, and there are no blatant rip offs. The great production definantly helps their cause, too. The guitars AND bass are powerful, the drums are tuned just right, and the vocals sound murderous. They are sometimes reminiscent of a mix of vocalists from The Ocean but more evil, if that helps.
The one thing that sets them apart from the pack, aside from their ability to write very catchy and heavy riffs simultaneously, is a rather smooth transition throughout the whole album. There is an interlude that does not sound pretentious, there is a piano song that fits just right, and the occasional switch from intense to melodic is effortless. Because of these factors, there is virtually no low point. The only part people may not enjoy is the infrequent times where the vocalist is completely unintelligible, but then again his intensity and emotional delivery is enough to satisfy, plus he manages to write consistently quality lyrics.
They’ve already been on tours with bands such as Carpathian, Darkest Hour, and Terror, and just might get in the studio early next year for their second outing. Perhaps they are provoking a statement to people with their name (inspiration for the name of Slipknot’s new album name?), in that they won’t people to prove them wrong; that abandoning hope is not what they want to happen. In the meantime, we have a great soundtrack to a bad day, or a hyperactive day, and if you’ve ever wanted to just sock someone in the temple, but at the same time wanted to hold your ex-girlfriend, and then kill her, then you should probably stop reading and go get this ok bye.
