Review Summary: A hate fuelled, f*** word driven album by Pennsylvanian metalcore act.
Pennsylvanian metalcore act Motionless in White burst on to the scene with 2010s debut release
Creatures , they return now with follow up release
Infamous .
Kerrang! magazine once said that this band could be the new Marilyn Manson, does the new album stand up to the claim?
No. It doesn't. But that is not to say that you shouldn't give the album a chance, it does have some great tracks, songs such as
The Devils Night provide great metalcore songs, whereas others, like
Sinematic provide more steady synth -driven moments between the rages. But whilst this almost formulaic approach works for some of the record, it does eventually lead to boredom for the listener.
For the album the instrumentation has stepped up, unlike in the first release where all the instruments blended into one sound behind the vocals, the guitars are now taking the forefront with Chris for the majority and lead the way with a variety of different riffs which provide a very aggressive sound when paired with the screams. Talking of vocals, Chris Motionless, the vocalist for the band has too stepped up his game, employing a variety of different screams that have improved from his last effort on
Creatures from the high shrieks featured on
If Its Dead We'll Kill It to the deep roars used on
Black Damask (The Fog) , but on the other hand, whilst his clean vocals have got less annoying for this album, they are still sup-par and have a tone that just doesn't seem to quite fit. it has also been discovered on this album that Chris has perfected his Marilyn Manson impression, I had to check the album upon hearing
A-M-E-R-I-C-A to check Manson hadn't made a guest appearance, it is quite scary to hear.
A leading feature of this album is the use of synths and keyboards, as on
Creatures they are used for atmosphere and on many songs as a lead, the technicality displayed is very impressive and really adds to songs when it is used, which sadly is not enough in the guitar driven first half, and too much in the second half.
Structurally there is very little to say, the album is divided in two, the first half been given over to guitar based, hate fuelled metalcore that will give lots for the headbangers everywhere to get excited about. The second half is divided between more metalcore and the synth based industrial-Manson like songs, the band may of got away with this lack of mix had they muddled the songs up a bit, put more of the keyboard/synth songs in the albums first half. But to a fan this may be what they want from the album.
Lyrically this album is very basic, the main themes been; hating everyone, overcoming difficulties and love. But these themes are often buried between the sheer number of expletives employed throughout this album. I have never heard f*ck used so much in the space of one album, often used just to try and add shock factor or expressive the anger meant to be conveyed in the song, but whilst this works for the first three songs maybe, the listener will eventually just become numb to its effects and after that, just annoyed.
One final point, when you listen to this album, you will be able to hear many other bands within it. As said earlier, Chris has developed his Manson impression to the point of near terrifying perfection, but aside from the vocals you can hear Manson influences in the synth songs where they have employed an early Manson-era industrial base to it
Sinematic is the best example here. But there are others, the opening to
The Devils Night is very reminisce of Psychosocial by Slipknot to me, other bands can be hears as well. This blatant rip off of other bands may infuriate some listeners, others may not be bothered and see it as drawing of influences.
Motionless in White here have crafted a good metalcore album, no way near perfect, and the band is definitely a bit of becoming the new Marilyn Manson, but in spite of the very crude lyrics, the rip offs and the lack of variety in song structure and the other faults, this is an enjoyable album, not a stand out in any way, but good for what it was designed to be- a hate fuelled metal album.
