The term "metalcore" is always a word I've taken a dislike to, first of all, half the bands in the genre don't sound like they have a hardcore influence at all. Second of all, the term has been used to describe a lot of bands I despise. I will not use the term here as this simply doesn't apply to me, I can't simply see the hardcore influence so I stand by that this is just metal. I remember hearing this band for the first time; I was bored one afternoon so I was going through the TV channels. Their single
The End of the World was on, I enjoyed the track a lot and pursued to get the album. I did, and I enjoyed it however seeing
Gone Forever at only 4 pounds, I could not pass it up. My complete first impression was, "hey, this is actually quite cool" and indeed it was. Hailing from New Jersey, USA, this album has increased their profile largely.
I'm quite fond of the album now, it has everything. With great screams, amazing guitar riffs and some fast drum parts, I knew I was in for something good. Byron has a deep scream/growl, he has a lot of variety as well. The vocals do go into the common growling and then clean vocals. But they don't change as much that it gets predictable and it's usually in a chorus that that happens. I'm satisfied with his work as I could never do a better job. The guitar team, Doc and Dallas go all out on riffs, riffs and more riffs. There are even a lot of uber sweet solos that always fit in the song and never seem out of place. This may seem cruel to say this but John is just a bassist and nothing more but without the bass, the sound would seem very empty due to the high treble settings on the guitars.
Corey is a brilliant drummer and shows his all, he has a lot of really cool fills and double bass parts. The band is really talented and it shows a lot on the album. Again, if you don't like solos then don't worry because the ones on the album are always in good taste and aren't just put there for the guitarist to show off. The opener,
Force-Fed made me open my mouth in awe, probably due to the fast catchy riffs of the song that says, "listen to this b
itch!" The song means business and is a great way for people to listen in on the album. The chorus is my favourite part of the song and stops it from being a same old metal song. The solo is very nice and doesn't take up a lot of time (which in my opinion is what a solo should do rather than let it drag). I'd say that this is definitely the song to open up the album as any other track wouldn't do a good as job. Next track
Anti-Hero doesn't kill the trend of good tracks but rather improves them. This song is a lot more melodic than the album's opener and with good cause as the band pulls it off extremely well. One of the more accessible tracks on the album but it doesn't fail to disappoint as it isn't very accessible but just a lot more melodic.
Precious Lie makes better use of the clean singing as it comes into play a lot more here. This track is a mixture of melody and riff-fests. The time where the clean singing comes in play is where the song becomes melodic but other than that, the band is pumped up. The solo is simply beautiful and makes the song have a sweet touch as it doesn't show off to the point that it's annoying like hell. It seems like in every track, the guitar duo, Doc and Dallas are the driving point for a lot of the songs as the reason the songs are so listenable is either because of the catchy, melodic riffs they make up or if the song is angry, the most evil and dark riffs they make up. The guitars are probably what the band are all about but they aren't the only thing that makes the music what it is. The vocals bring out the emotion as well, again, where it's either a dark, angry or melodic song. The drums just add the cherry on top as the furious double bass really adds to the anger-filled songs. My only complaint with the album would be that the songs can feel the same a lot and I probably wouldn't pay full album price for this (keep in mind that I got this for £4) but at the end of the day I do enjoy it an awful lot and is probably one of my favourite albums by the new wave of metal bands that are called metalcore. I just feel that if the guitars did some different things, maybe in a progressive manner then the band could be bigger and better.
The band does sometimes fall into the trap of just letting the "chugga-chugga" guitar riff style dominate a song and since I've grown out of thrash, I really dislike that style. The bass could have a bit more room to flex out but stereotypically a bassist is basically just there to make the music heavier. Never mind the complications cause in the end this is a great metal record and is probably in my top 10 of the best metal records of the new decade. Do yourself a favour and try this out.
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