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Review Summary: Using chaotic metalcore as a vehicle for their ambitious ideas, Employed to Serve cement their name among the greats with their sophomore album. The Warmth of a Dying Sun is as unique as it is pulverizing. Employed to Serve’s sophomore effort is a satisfyingly chaotic and strikingly creative tour de force. The band frames their ambition and creativity within a unique brand of rambunctious metalcore. On their latest offering, Employed to Serve seamlessly weave their textured experiments and haunting melodies within a mural of monstrous riffs and anguished vocals.
Employed to Serve build The Warmth of a Dying Sun upon a bedrock of uncompromising hardcore. The album is loaded with dissonant riffs, burly grooves, and deafening vocal performances. From the very beginning, “Void Ambition” catches the listener off guard with gut-wrenching shrieks and frenzied riffing before bleeding into the bone-crushing groove of “Good for Nothing.” Throughout the album, songs like “Church of Mirrors” and “I Spend My Days (Wishing Them Away)” rumble with dissonant chords and pummeling rhythms.
This spastic blend of metal and hardcore provides the band with the perfect foundation for their inventive ideas. “Half-Life” and the title track effortlessly transition from utter bedlam to droning, experimental passages before closing out. The bass in the latter half of “Church of Mirrors” wallows through a layer of filthily jagged noise. “Apple Tree” draws the album to a bold conclusion with its haunting melodious riffs and eerily murmured vocals.
Employed to Serve’s second album is a triumph that should draw comparisons to some of the genre’s heavyweights. The Warmth of a Dying Sun is a creative and well-executed slab of forward-thinking metal that deserves to be appreciated and listened to numerous times. Using chaotic metalcore as a vehicle for their ambitious ideas, Employed to Serve successfully cement their name alongside the very best of the genre.
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This is probably my AOTY. Really, really good stuff here.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
metalcore is not my usual jam but this is not bad
good review
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Thank you! I think there's something here for everyone, but obviously I'm a little biased.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I think this is your best review yet! I really liked this on first listen, so I'll definitely be revisiting it.
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Thanks! This just gets better and better tbh. It's been a go to for me this year and it always knocks me on my ass.
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Dig the name, dig the album title, dig the album cover, dig the review... definitely checking this out!
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Awesome, let me know what you think of the album!
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
this album is phenomenal, i was surprised it didn’t get more hype on here. really enjoy the vocals especially. holy roar has been putting out some great records lately. favorite track is probably I Spend My Days - Wishing Them Away.
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Right?! I thought for sure this album would be turning some heads this year. It seems to have flown under the radar for the most part, which is a shame.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Nice review. Album is excellent, surely proves that EtS are among the most creative and innovative hardcore groups in the UK at the moment. And they're even better live than on record too. Great band.
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Thanks! I'd like to see them live whenever they come to the states next.
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ktjammin, what does your avatar depict?
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A very successful Donkey Kong
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Btw they've never been to the US.
The album is fucking amazing, probably the closest thing to a 5 without being a five. Half Life, Lethargy, and the t/t are absolute gold.
And yeah; with the amount of love Converge gets on this site, you'd think EtS would be bigger here.
This thing is definitely my AOTY thus far, at least until that new Converge drops
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I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for them, should they ever decide to come soon.
I agree with you aside from the score, there is so much depth here.
I'm excited to hear the rest of that Converge album too. I'm liking all the tracks off it so far.
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ok, so I'm finally following up on my promise here...
with this review, I think some of the praise feels platitudinous, which might be incidental to the genre at hand. i've always found metal / hardcore / offshoots / etc to be a bit daunting to review as the core of many of these albums is tough to differentiate, or articulate what ultimately sets them apart, without resorting to technical descriptions of the production, drumming, screams, and so forth. i've always preferred to try and get to the spirit of the album (or, my interpretation thereof), with a bit less emphasis on the technicality of things.
there's a few lines here that seem as though they could be recycled for use elsewhere, which is what makes it feel a bit underwhelming as far as 5/5 reviews go. examples:
"Employed to Serve successfully cement their name alongside the very best of the genre." every metal reviewers promises this, to the point that it verges on banal. i personally don't care if an album is "among the best of the genre" anyway; i want to know what its essence is, and why exactly it's an essential listen in its own right, not just relative to the thousand other bands trying to create something similar.
"The Warmth of a Dying Sun is a creative and well-executed slab of forward-thinking metal" - after reading the review, I'm not left convinced that the album is especially creative. why exactly is it? and how is it forward thinking? you need to do more showing and a bit less telling. i should be able to conclude those things based on your review, not just assume that you're correct.
"This spastic blend of metal and hardcore provides the band with the perfect foundation for their inventive ideas. “Half-Life” and the title track effortlessly transition from utter bedlam to droning, experimental passages before closing out." - how is this inventive? bands mixing chaos and ultimate resolution aren't exactly rare. what is it about this album that is so special? i feel like there must be a 'heart' to this album that justifies a high rating, but you're not quite articulating it. so far this review feels stuck at arm's distance.
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tl;dr - review is well-written and concise but doesn't really touch on points that i find fascinating. maybe it's just me. i tried to be a bit harsh in the hopes that there's something constructive in all my rambling. but, yeah, I think your writing would benefit from asking "what is interesting about this album? how can i draw in someone who might not care otherwise, or, how can i encourage someone who already is a fan to look at it a bit differently?".
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Holy fuckin dopeness. So good. So so so good.
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