ERRA
Impulse


4.0
excellent

Review

by Winsomniac USER (26 Reviews)
November 30th, 2011 | 2230 replies


Release Date: 2011 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Erra’s debut LP is firmly rooted in its influences, but still impressive in its own right.

Metalcore has never been a tranquil genre to say the least, and nowhere is that more apparent than on Erra’s Impulse. The album’s most striking feature is its use of contrast, both atmospherically and musically. Dynamic soundscapes, both vocally and instrumentally, define this release. Frantically racing from melody to discord, Erra’s style is best characterized by chaos, much like the Babylonian God of pestilence and mayhem that is their namesake.

The album’s opener, "White Noise", serves as an accessible entry point for the pandemonium to come. It also exemplifies Erra’s style: heavy riff-driven metalcore that would be relatively standard if not for the inclusion of high-pitched clean vocals and ethereal melodies to offset it. While they’ve essentially only applied the ‘djent’ style pioneered by bands like Meshuggah and more recently Born of Osiris (except trading synth for clean vocals), Erra are too talented to be considered derivative.

While their formula isn’t exactly unheard of, the band’s technical prowess is undeniable, and their superior songwriting easily distinguishes themselves from their peers. Even for metalcore, Erra are f!@#king extreme. Where other bands would shy away from relying too heavily on clean vocals or melodic interludes, Erra fearlessly embraces dynamics to ferocious effect. Where other bands would succumb to gimmicky elements, Erra casually tosses in digressive interludes mid-song ("Heart"), and arpeggios on piano ("Obscure Words"). One would be hard-pressed to find any prolonged span of homogenous sound without some amount of conscious modulation.

However, that’s not to say Impulse isn’t cohesive. Erra definitely loves their disorder and experimentation, but their specific blend of winding riffs and heavy chugs is so striking that the album functions very well as a whole.

For a young band, Erra’s sound is surprisingly fluid, but the high production value that makes the album sound so crisp also highlights its greatest weakness. The clean vocals, while effective, absolutely exude auto-tune, and are sure to be their most divisive feature. Their technical prowess, while impressive, wears on, and some songs just aren’t as well-executed as others.



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user ratings (679)
3.7
great
other reviews of this album
DrummerDude77251 (4)
An extremely diverse and impressive debut album from a young band who will surely expand their sound...

dancezachdance (5)
A masterpiece....



Comments:Add a Comment 
Winsomniac
November 30th 2011


8833 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Someone really goofed on the tracklisting...

AfterTheBreakdown
November 30th 2011


7245 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm really liking this.

Winsomniac
November 30th 2011


8833 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

It's good, but I'll have to see how it holds up in the future. To be honest, I really shouldn't enjoy it as much as I do.





BUT I DO ANYWAY m/

AfterTheBreakdown
November 30th 2011


7245 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm already debating if I like this or Andromeda more.

lhystory
November 30th 2011


19 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Although I love Andromeda and their EP, I have do admit that this was a slight disappointment. The writing, instrumentation and production are at least a 4.5 for me, only to be rivaled by the massive Discoveries (Northlane). However, the clean vocals that were bearable on the previous outings have been way overdone - even looking past their auto-tunedness and what not, we keep hearing the same old fucking progression song after song. Whoever is doing the clean vocals should really learn some new melodic lines, or at least try to figure something new out, because we've heard all of the lines on Andromeda in one way or another. Unfortunately.

bloc
November 30th 2011


70679 Comments


THE TIME HAS COME

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Band would be cool if it wasn't for the awful singing.

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

But I will admit - I am really impressed that they changed their name and stopped playing deathcore, and still managed to be incredibly generic.



Keep on striving for that mediocrity boys.

loveisamixtape
November 30th 2011


12407 Comments


lol witchrapist.

I LIKE MY METUHL WITH NO SINGING
IT HAS TO BE MEHTUL ALL THE TIME
SINGING ISN'T MEHTUL

I will never understand the hate Jesse gets for his vocals. They're so good.


Album rules, and blows Andromeda so far out of the water

HeroZero
November 30th 2011


21 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Jesse's cleans are fine. they remind me of "of machines" which isn't a bad thing. and they're "generic" lulz. idiot.

loveisamixtape
November 30th 2011


12407 Comments


They remind me more of Secret and Whisper.

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

lol witchrapist.



I LIKE MY METUHL WITH NO SINGING

IT HAS TO BE MEHTUL ALL THE TIME

SINGING ISN'T MEHTUL



No you fucking idiot, I like when bands sing where it makes sense. I don't like when bands throw in a shitty Linkin Park chorus, and I especially don't like when the nu-metal parts are sang by some pre-pubescent sounding lad who needs studio help to keep him in key.



Giving this a 4.5 is hilarious, you need to listen to more bands like this.

loveisamixtape
November 30th 2011


12407 Comments


vaalbara is easily the best song

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

This band is nothing special, and the clean singing is piss poor. Get over it.

loveisamixtape
November 30th 2011


12407 Comments


All hail witchxrapist

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

It's really funny that you're getting so indignant over the truth.



Band sux, trend hops, and will alway be mediocre.

loveisamixtape
November 30th 2011


12407 Comments


It's funny that you hold your opinion to such a high standard that you think that we all give a fuck about what you think is "mediocre"

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

It's not a matter of holding my opinion to a high standard, it's the fact that this album is really unoriginal and has really bad out of place clean singing everywhere.

witchxrapist
November 30th 2011


11117 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Listen to Crossbearer fagtog.

loveisamixtape
November 30th 2011


12407 Comments


Nah. Too busy listening to erra sry



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