Review Summary: Good setting, bad characters
Describing an album as a "psychoanalytical concept album" is a paddling offense in my book. But for all the verbal grandstanding, this album is pretty run of the mill. 13 Hymns presents nothing that hasn't been done before: no sentiment or imagery which hasn't been explicitly described in greater or more forceful detail, no riff or refrain which hasn't been heard hundreds of times before.
There are some competent moments and sequences. The band has a noticeable knack for creating good atmosphere. Tracks toward the beginning and the end bookend the album nicely with energy and respectable ambiance. Whether it be the forceful rifts on the first track "Move Forward Until You Are Dead" or the driving drum beats and meaningful pacing on the second song "Becoming Chaos" or at the end with "My Resignation" or "Victory Song", these songs represent the best the album has to offer both vocally and instrumentally. The instrumentation is appropriate and at times flashes into good. The vocal delivery is also most serviceable here but sadly this isn't a trend which hold true throughout. When these elements come together at their best, there are definitive feelings and direction, creating concise and atmospheric tracks with a clear direction and intent. While it's really nothing that will blow you away by any means, everything is composed relatively well.
However, there are some issues that hold this listen back from being decent. The refrains on the middle tracks like "Fire Breather" or "Unscripted Disclosure" are painfully stale. This feeling is only made more painful by the apathetic warbling garnishing the blandness. It's trying to covey subtler feelings but considering the best moments are the hardest it not only creates frequent, overly long and unwanted breaks in pace but usually drag on seemingly for no real reason other than to pad the playtime. A prime example comes in "In the Safe House", a dreary plod through melancholy tedium which really doesn't seem to have any driving direction. Perhaps this is intentional, but the next song rudely smacks you across the face from the first second and whatever work in establishing a definitive mood shift quickly dissipates and is forgotten about. These tracks and moments liter the album like refugees in a park and while I wouldn't say there shouldn't be subdued moments, it needs to have some kind of objective other than sad faced meandering. Also, for all the supposed depth and exploration into someones psyche, I found the setting and moods to be on point but the lyricism usually degraded into obtuse metaphors and fractured pieces of commonplace metal imagery.
So what's pegged as "progressive" or "psychoanalytic" ends up being pretty standard, which is somewhat ironically par for the course for many burgeoning metal bands such as this one. There are some good ideas and execution, but ultimately it falls short from distinguishing itself in any meaningful way. And if their new direction is any indication, that isn't really likely to change, although the artwork is much improved.
