Review Summary: Old school deathcore that started it all.
Ever since it's birth, the deathcore movement has slowly progressed into what is now a huge turn off due to redundant use of "breakdowns" and "technical riffing". When you finally look past the curtain of "deathcore" as a genre, you will then realize that a majority of what is produced now adays will have little to no variety or unique qualities. Yes you might say bands like "The Faceless" are putting a whole new look on the genre and going overboard on new techniques and overall composition of music, but the verdict still stands, a majority of what "deathcore" bands produce is extremely excessive and over used. Born of osiris where one of the founding fathers of the genre, providing deathcore with a very unique and technical vibe. Back then, this was new stomping ground that has been layed for artists like boo to explore upon.
A couple years after the band's debut "Rosecrance" was released, their first full length was introduced titled "The New Reign". This album has eight tracks and clocks in at a measly 21:31 (If you like long and drawn out albums, then this is not for you). "The New Reign" provided run of the mill deathcore with solid riffing and mesmerizing technicality that has not been prominently implemented into deathcore at that time, so listening to this would have been a different ballpark back then. Micheal Keene of "The Faceless" helped produce this album, he also helped produce "The Common Man's Collapse" By "Veil of Maya". Listening to "The New Reign" for the first time, I actually enjoyed it to my astonishment because their production sound was really identical to VOM's. I know im probably going to get a lot of *** for saying that bands like BOO or VOM are good, but you have to understand that these were pretty much the godfathers of "deathcore" and they helped lay the foundation of what "deathcore is today, I have to give credit where credit is due.
Anyway back to the album, Every song is unique and actually sustains unique melodic value in each one, it's not all just chugs and breakdowns. One thing that I like about BOO is that their composition is somewhat more blatant and "straight to the point" on their composition. In a way they like to add new things on the way to spice things up a bit. An instrument that stands out to me the most in this case are the drums (i'm a drummer myself). The drums are all over the place in my opinion, I am hearing a lot of cymbal crashes that I would never expect to be there, and its exceptionally incorporated in the songs. Guitars are obviously a big part of this band, especially since there are two (Idk if you have noticed, but this is a rareity in the deathcore scene). Solos are powerful and add a solid melody to the songs, it lets you take a breather from some of the chugging as you guys like to call it. Bass(as always) is mainly in the background of the songs, adding a solid and crunchy texture to the riffage that can never go wrong. Vocals are pretty agressive and powerful. What I really like about the vocals back then is that they sounded a lot more raw and prominent in the music which in my opinion, makes them stand out more which I appreciate. Another thing that is probably the most unique thing about this band is that they have a dedicated keys player, and he is pretty good and incorperating keys in the songs, its not too offensive. The keys player also does backround vocals which adds a fine layer to the vocal platform to some parts.
If I had to pick a favorite track off of this album, it would probably have to be one of their most infamous ones called "Bow Down". Short and sweet song that packs a punch, and of course I like the opening lyrics "***ING BOW DOWN" as much as any other BOO fan does. Even though this is my favorite, I can't say that all the other songs aren't good. Each song is unique in it's own way and if you listen to it for the first time, it always has something waiting around the corner to suprise you. FUN FACT: At the end of the last track there is a cool instrumental piece that transitions at the beggining of their next album "A Higher Place", which I thought was clever.
At the end of the day, this is one of the albums that really helped set the cornerstone of the genre and made it grow into what it has become today. Even though a lot of "deathcore" that is produced today isn't really that up to par with my expectations, I really can't complain because I can always turn back to albums like this and see where it all started from. Listening to old school albums like these really help put a perspective on how far the genre has come and I can respect that. Right now BOO might seem like your typical "deathcore" band with not much to offer, but if you look deep enough you will see that they are a band that has put the work in to come this far and should be rightfully acknowledged for it.
