Review Summary: Silly Name - Good Album.
Terrible band name aside, A Bullet For Pretty Boy seemed to always be on the verge of really breaking through the scene and making a lasting impression (in my silly eyes anyway). Unfortunately for them, this didn’t happen. 9 years together, two albums later and they called it a day. In saying this their lasting impression can still be felt as some band members have gone on to form or join respectable metalcore/post-hardcore bands. Guitarist/clean vocalist Derrick Sechrist joined up with ‘The Plot In You’ for a run of albums and Unclean Vocalist Danon Saylor started a new band with some dudes from ‘Silent Plant’ and ‘From Today’ called ‘Nothing Left’ which are actually really solid. Drummer Jared Easterling founded 'Fit For A King' as well
Looking at Symbiosis at face value you may get it confused with Underoath’s ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’. You will also hear exactly what you expect to hear. Double bass, Chugging riffs, Throaty screams, and clean vocals spattered throughout. There isn’t a lot new in the sense of straying from the formula. Most songs follow the same pattern as unclean verses and clean choruses with a breakdown. The main thing that makes the Pretty Boys stand out is the quality of the vocalists and their drummer Matt Weir. The track ‘Come Clean’ has some serious drumming on it and the ending of ‘The Grateful Party’ sounds sick with the simplistic yet great double bass work.
Whilst Dennis comes across at times as a bit over produced, I think his cleans work nicely, especially in tracks like ‘De(v)talis’ they have a nice soothing sound to them. Dennis also sounds great on ‘White Noise’ with next to no effects on his vocals for a change. Danon on the other hand has some brutal vocal parts throughout, ‘Reptilian Tongue’ showcases what he can do, and I really appreciate his lows.
Musically, you get what you get, chugging guitars are at a maximum throughout, and the ‘lead’ guitarist makes love to octaves like you wouldn’t believe but it works nicely for what they are doing here. ‘Illumination’ and ‘Self-Disclosure’ being the only two tracks which really stray from the specific formula, ‘Illumination’ being a nice little instrumental and ‘Self-Disclosure’ being the OBIVOUS EPIC ending track that builds into the ever-present EPIC ENDING YOOOO full of brutal screams and high notes.
Symbiosis will never be at the top of anyone’s Metalcore/Post-Hardcore best of’s, to be honest if it wasn’t for their silly name, I feel a lot of people wouldn’t even remember them, but revaluating this album has made me appreciate them more then I have in the past. They are a well-oiled machine who know what they need to do and do it better than a lot of others who have made a lasting impression on the scene.
Standout Tracks:
Reptilian Tongue
Come Clean
De(v)talis
