Review Summary: An Enigma not just in metal but in all of music that shall not dissapoint
The Boy Will Drown are an anomaly to say the least. They are melodic, they are catchy, and technical as all out can be. Fetish on the surface is an album that would seem like a disaster on first sight but somehow, this British quad have pulled off nothing less than a masterpiece. The reason why I would say this album would seem like a disaster on first sight is because they have done what has killed off the sound of other bands which is that they separate almost all their musical traits apart as opposed to finding a unique blend that they can do well. From the start of "Deepthroat" they start with a fury of technicality then interweave their way through technicality, melody, and catchiness throughout the entire album.
Not only can they separating their traits out and not having very few weak spots throughout their songs but they also never play it safe what so ever and experiment quite a bit. With songs like "Josef Fritzl" and throwing in a cover in the end by Municipal Waste ("The Art of Partying" to be song specific), they show that they are very confident (which they should be) with what they can do not only sonically but also with their instruments.
The instrumental performance in this album is astonishing, the guitarist can do things with his guitar that very few guitarist I've seen can do. The bassist knows how to keep a solid groove at all times while the guitar is firing away at whatever the guitarist is doing whether it be ridiculously fast tapping or even chugging that doesn't bore for some shocking reason. As for the drums, they are also fast, tight, and impressive just to listen to at times. This leads to the only real downfall of the album which are the vocals. The vocals are not bad at all but I wish the vocalist had more variety than just high screeches and low growls for which he uses about 85% of the time so the vocal performance feels very monotonic at times.
Overall, The Boy Will Drown are a gem in the world of metal because they can create a sound that keeps your attention by separating out other relatively straight forward sounds like the typical technical death metal sound and the melodic death metal sound to make themselves unique for doing this. while this argument may sound counter intuitive, it is very true that doing this makes them a unique sound that is not just fun to listen to but also very intelligent.
