Review Summary: Are metalcore bands even trying anymore?
Before I start this review, let me make one thing very clear. I enjoy metal/death/scene-core bands more than most of you probably do, and I let slide most bands because I find them enjoyable and inspired. It is very rare I come across a band as poor, uninspired and, for lack of a better adjective, epic-fail of a band such as
When Bears Attack. Their debut
Elisha doesn't help much either.
The album opens with a passage from the bible read over some muddled djun-djuns from the band with mid-range screams from lead singer Travis Lambert. A dreary album thus commences... and yeah, it's pretty bad. It sounds kind of like an Emmure song but done by the screamer of
Arescyn. They use all the cliches too, the guitar tone of a djent song, the continuing monotonous mid-scream that gets very tiresome, very fast, talking then putting more pressure on the throat, turning it into a mid scream, and everything else used by
every single metalcore band ever. It also doesn't help that this is a
christian metalcore band.
Memorable riffs, licks and breakdowns are completely lacking. Everything is so forgettable that it almost feels like a chore listening to this. The one passage that comes closest to being memorable is the opening to
Temerity, but even then, it feels incomplete and clumsy. The bass is typical metalcore bass, following basically everything the guitarists do, so it isn't even worth mentioning, although there are a few spots it is actually audible. The drums are so simple, it's kind of insulting. It's almost like the band hired the drummer because they wouldn't get signed with out one (however that wouldn't have been so bad) so they decided to just pick up the first one that tried out. I'm in a band myself and yes, we suck, but at least our bass, guitar and drum parts are
varied enough to make each individual instrument stand out. You may make the argument that most metalcore bands are guilty of this, but in that case, they at least bring something
interesting along with them.
We Came As Romans are generic, sure, but their melodies are soaring and spacy, and they have interesting compositions to support that.
Chelsea Grin are laughably 'br00t@l', but they don't just mindlessly chug, and the screamer has some of the most menacing fry screams I've ever heard, but I digress.
When Bears Attack are so uninspired and boring, it isn't even worth the listen. It's made even worse by the fact that the band brings
nothing new to the long over-stayed tables of metalcore. The only reason anyone should ever listen to any song on this album would be around the 1:50 minute mark in
Temerity. They do one of the stupidest things I've ever heard in a metalcore song. They have a gang chant of 'Bah!'. It might have sounded passable if the screamer just screamed it, but no. They had the whole group record themselves saying the word 'Bah!'. It makes me laugh to think they thought it would be brutal.
