REVIEW: Your Memorial - Redirect (2012)

Artist: Your Memorial
Album: Redirect
Rating: 4.8/5
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In an era where so many bands release albums with nonsensical titles and track names, it can be tough to glean what exactly the band is trying to impart to the listener. Sure tongue-in-cheek remarks and gimmicky puns are great for drawing attention and catching one’s eye, but more often than not, there is no meaning behind the content. It falls flat, failing to leave a lasting impression on the listener. Your Memorial’s latest effort, Redirect, however does just what its name would imply–it refines, focuses and indeed redirects the band into previously uncharted realms of overlapping harshness and atmosphere.

Redirect is much like a voyage through space. At times, tranquil and delightfully stagnant, the album is glued together with bits of post-rock styled elements used as interludes. These interludes function as spacious, luxurious gaps between the hard-hitting elements of the release, which line up like a sequence of asteroid belts. Pelting the listener with aggression and passion in the form of grinding, groovy breakdowns. This Twin-Cities based metalcore quartet brilliantly fuse melodic, lighter segments together with crushing, climactic heaviness, topped off with sparse–but tasteful–instrumental sections to create a listening experience which places the listener in the passenger seat of a voyage into a galaxy created by the tedious and careful amalgam of precarious elements.

The grandiose nature with which Your Memorial–and the listener–disembark upon the journey that is Redirect is subtle. As the album opens quietly with a sample and some ambient sounds, the listener is given just enough time to buckle their seatbelts before they are thrust into the album’s title track, “Redirect.” From then on out, the album is a bumpy ride, dragging the listener along–albeit willingly–through tracks which hit both heavily and melodically in a left-right fashion. “Eternity” and “Trial and Triumph” showcase this facet of the album most efficiently. “Eternity” starts with a bang, but features an almost needed break from the heaviness about half-way through, where the vocals disappear, and the smooth guitar and elegant drumming are permitted to shine. “Trial and Triumph” functions almost in an inverse manner, building up to a stunning, climactic midpoint packed with both tasteful, clean vocals (which are a more frequent appearance on Redirect than their past efforts, but are done so well, one almost wonders where they’ve been this whole time) and heavy, crushing chugs that simultaneously kiss the listener on the cheek while punching him or her in the jaw.

In this manner, the nature of the entire album follows the same structure that many of the individual tracks follow. Opening with a deceptive calm, building up to a breath-taking climax, and slowly–but barely–descending to a calming conclusion, Redirect takes the listener on a slightly linear but completely enjoyable journey. The album not only is a stellar collection of individual songs, but a behemoth of an experience which begs to be listened to as a whole–something that cannot frequently be said for a metalcore album. The touches of spacial atmosphere, hints of post-rock, “djent” and groove that are sprinkled throughout the album, along with the welcome niche the clean vocals have found themselves save the album from what could have been it’s great undoing–monotony. While it is a masterful creation, it is a long album. Long, however, should not be mistaken for overbearing or obtrusive, as Redirect is just long enough for the listener to find themselves lost in, without begging to find their way home. 

By Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW/HISTORY LESSON: I Shot the Sheriff - 2007 Demo [EP]

Artist: I Shot the Sheriff

Album: Demo (2007) [EP]

Rating: 4/5

Heroes are important: in times of dire need, they give people hope. In times of stagnancy, they provide movement and inspiration–progression, if you will. While “progression” might not be the first word that comes to mind when listening to Californian deathcore group, I Shot the Sheriff, the listener cannot deny the influence their 2007 demo has had on deathcore bands today–from the “greats” like Suicide Silence and Chelsea Grin to that annoying start up project that practices in your neighbor’s garage.

The year is 2007, and deathcore was in a state of turmoil. Amidst the plethora of emerging “-core” genres, deathcore was far and away the newest of them, and it’s combination of bi-polar elements made it attractive to metalheads seeking new extremes, and spin-kicking scenesters looking to gain mosh-pit badges of honor. Whether it would have any lasting impact on the scene or function as a transient shit-stain on the underpants of hardcore was (and still is) anyone’s guess. I Shot the Sheriff leapt into the fray with all guns blazing, with the mindset that in order to preserve deathcore, a no-holds-barred approach needed to be taken. Fortunately for us fans, that mindset served its purpose.

Leading the charge with immensely varied vocal styles and brutally straightforward lyrics, the 2007 Demo features elements of deathcore we all take for granted today. Quick sweeps interspersed between heavy chugging and pounding bass follow the vocals in I Shot the Sheriff’s aural stampede. Indeed, sections like the climactic breakdown in “Denouement” feel akin to being trampled by a raging rabble of rhinoceros. The drums provide a crushing, down-tempo brutal backdrop while the guitars trudge along, crushing everything in their path. While the lyrics are lacking (and often range from okay to downright terrible), the vocal delivery tops it all off with wrenching anguish and pure hate.

Admittedly, listening to I Shot the Sheriff’s demo now is underwhelming. The 2007 Demo isn’t meant to attract new listeners to the genre–not these days at least. Rather, it’s an opportunity for dedicated fans of extant deathcore giants (Thy Art is Murder, et al) to explore their roots. However, that still leaves I Shot the Sheriff sounding generic (in a genre they helped breathe life into) and lyrically abysmal (in a genre not known for lyrical prowess). These hurdles are small by their very nature, however, in broader context, they become minuscule. The listener is often too engrossed in the straightforward, break-neck brutality that the EP offers, rather than stuck getting caught in the nuances of the lyrical atrocities sparsely sprinkled throughout the release. 

So while it’s easy to write off I Shot the Sheriff as “old news” and uninventive, this isn’t necessarily true. I Shot the Sheriff’s 2007 Demo influenced bands who went on to influence some of the largest names in deathcore, all the while showing remarkable promise–if they had continued, where would they be today? Were it not the vocal delivery and angry, angst laden lyrics which influenced bands like We Are the End and Thy Art is Murder, many bands tearing up local and national scenes around the world wouldn’t be...well, they wouldn’t be. So if you have Infinite Death memorized to the pinch harmonic, and can play through every We Are the End track on YouTube, then treat yourself to a bit of musical research and give I Shot the Sheriff a spin–who knows, you might even end up starting a band.

By: Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone

Artist: Be’lakor

Album: Of Breath and Bone

Rating: 4.5/5

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I don’t know about you, but track lengths over five minutes consistently register as a unique mix of foreboding and promising when I’m first looking at an album. Seven minutes is a lot of time for a band to fill–especially without running the risk of getting repetitious. However, it’s all the more time for the artist to really reach out and engross the listener in a more thorough “experience,” so to speak. Australian melodic death metal giants Be’lakor manage to do an astounding amount of the latter with virtually none of the former on their latest full-length effort, Of Breath and Bone.

Loaded with dark, dynamic melodies, Of Breath and Bone is packed to the brim with engaging heaviness and technical brilliance sure to grab the listener by the ears. The progressive, riff-laden nature of the guitar is accentuated by subtle, but talented bass work and drumming. While the drumming isn’t show-stopping or distracting, it provides a stellar, atmospheric canvas for the guitar work to soar over, and paint an intense aural masterpiece. Overtop of the bass and drum work, the vocals coexist with the guitar, and while at times, the two seem to compete for attention, more often than naught, they work together to create a dynamo of explosive, invigorating death metal.

Clocking in at 57 minutes, Be’lakor’s Of Breath and Bone can’t be all intensity all the time. Packed in between the miniature climaxes in each track are moments of astral atmospheric brilliance, which give the listener a brief reprieve from the rigorous, riff-laden attack which is pervasive throughout the album. Tracks “Fraught” and “The Dream and the Waking” showcase this aspect of Be’lakor’s dynamism best. “The Dream and the Waking,” while dominating the other album’s tracks at nearly nine and a half minutes, functions as the climax of the entire album, with both brilliant riff-work and moments of near spacial atmosphere. What makes this track–and the moments within it–so brilliant is how smoothly the Australian melo-death masters transition from segment to segment, never once seeming forced or rough.

In fact, the only tangible moment of roughness comes from some of the album’s vocal aspects. While typically vocally solid, Of Breath and Bone occasionally includes a part-growled, part-spoken, part-burped vocal style which is off-putting and frequently sounds out-of-place. Album opener “Abeyance” utilizes this vocal style most heavily, and while it is by no means bad, it just seems to clash with the instrumental vibe surrounding the burp-esque mutterings. More often than not, though, the vocals function with the drums and bass as a mechanism of atmosphere for the guitars to work within, either speeding up and intensifying or slowing and harmonizing the track.

Be’lakor waste no time in letting the listener know that this isn’t their first melodic death metal rodeo. Careful riff-writing and song structure yields stunning soundscapes to be found within every track, and ultimately defining the entire album. Of Breath and Bone is a fluid, astoundingly well-rounded and engaging effort, even in spite of the rare vocal hiccup. So if you’re like me, and looked at the length of each track wondering, “alright fellas, how are you gonna make this work?” Then you ought waste no more time wondering, as all fifty-some minutes comprising Of Breath and Bone are nothing short of thoroughly engrossing melodic death metal dynamic enough for anyone to find something in–metalhead or otherwise. 

By: Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Chelsea Grin - Evolve [EP]

Artist: Chelsea Grin

Album: Evolve - EP

Rating: 4/5

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Progression. One word. Three syllables. Yet, such a small notion can often times make or break a band, lest done in moderation. At one extreme, a band can quite literally refuse to change their sound, leaving all but the most loyal of fans to become bored with the sound. At the other extreme, there are bands who undergo such rapid and constant progression that their fan base is immensely varied and forced to pick and choose amongst their material. Right in the middle lie Chelsea Grin, who show with their new EP, Evolve, and addition of guitarist Jason Richardson (formerly of Born of Osiris) progression–even at the inclusion of questionable elements–can please old fans and attract new ones.

Fundamentally, Chelsea Grin are still working from the familiar footwork that was established in their debut EP. Quick, pounding drums accompanied by three guitars providing a simultaneous attack of shred and downtuned brutality assault the listener, while bipolar screeched and bellowed vocals provide the icing on the cake. Tracks like “S.H.O.T” and “Confession” feature breakdowns not unlike ones seen on Desolation of Eden’s “The Human Condition” and lead single “Recreant.” Lyrically, Evolve touches on familiar themes, with each track having a different concept, ranging from “The Second Coming”’s alternate perspective on Judgement Day and “Lillith”’s heart-chilling tale of love and loss. Like previous releases, the lyrics are only as pertinent as the vocals delivering them, and the vocals haven’t changed much from their sophomore full-length My Damnation, featuring animalistic, shredding high screams and deep, bellowed low screams vaguely reminiscent of The Black Dahlia Murder. While the vocals are by no means atrocious, they still falter at times, especially when compared to the prowess they displayed on Desolation of Eden.

How then has Chelsea Grin changed? What elements of Evolve are at all...well, evolved? The answer is two-fold, with the most constant change coming from the fretwork of new guitarist, Jason Richardson. While all of Chelsea Grin’s previous releases features some sort of (often half-hearted) technicality, a majority of it came from the drums, with the odd sweep-laden or tapped-out riff accompanying the melodic chug-chug of the other two guitars. Evolve however features consistently engaging and impressive guitar work which wouldn’t sound out of place on–you guessed it–a Born of Osiris album. Richardson’s influence is especially noticeable in Evolve’s closing track, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” in which careful fretwork builds up to a monumental solo at the close of the song. Lillith’s chorus is also wrought with sweeping shreddery that, fortunately distracts the listener from Chelsea Grin’s other modicum of progression–the clean vocals.

“What’s that?” You’re probably asking yourself. “Chelsea Grin? Clean vocals? Are talking about the same band, here?” Yes, we are, and believe it or not, they aren’t exclusively bad news. While the creepy, half-muttered, half-sung cleans pervasive throughout the single, “Lillith” are sloppy and out-of-place at best, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”’s clean sections are nothing but pleasing. This clean split (no pun intended) shows that when the band commits themselves to including the new vocal styling in a focused and concise manner, it works. “Lillith,” unfortunately shows the sloppy, half-hearted downside, offering clear evidence of the band’s lack of thought in the construction of what they (for some reason) chose to be the EP’s only single.

Evolve is just that–an evolution. It shows Chelsea Grin narrowing their sights and establishing their own sound, which isn’t so much a change so much as it a refinement of their previous efforts. However, like an evolution, it is only one step in an imperfect process which needs continuous tweaking and attention to reach a definite end result.

By Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Thirteen Bled Promises - Heliopause Fleets

Artist: Thirteen Bled Promises

Album: Heliopause Fleets

Rating: 4.75/5

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Imagine being buried alive. Trapped in a box six feet underground, suffocating as every breath you take means you’re just one breath closer to asphyxiation. The pressure is nearly palpable as the thought of your impending demise causes your heart to beast faster and your breath to quicken. This collecting pressure is much akin to Madrid-based deathcore act Thirteen Bled Promises and their debut full-length, Heliopause Fleets, a conceptual album laden with dazzling technicality and crushing brutality.

Telling the story of the Voyager 1, a NASA-commissioned space vessel and it’s botched extraterrestrial encounter, the concept behind Heliopause Fleets isn’t nearly as crucial as the manner in which the story is delivered. Saturated with unrelenting, skull-smashing brutality, the album kicks off with “Please, Keep Your Bones Inside,” a track which wastes no time in socking the listener straight in the gut. The album continues for some time at this pace, allowing the pressure to build, rapidly toggling between machine-gun speed blast beats and lighting-fast sweeps and muddy, downtuned heaviness. Each smash of the bass drum and resonating chug of every breakdown carries the album steadily towards it’s climax, as you, trapped in your pine box six feet under the Earth, scream, hoping for someone to hear you.

At this point, it isn’t long before your voice is hoarse, and your ears ache from the echoes of your own screams. Your knuckles are bloody from beating at the lid to your makeshift coffin. All the while, the pressure has been steadily building. Exasperated, you pound once more at your wooden tomb. There’s a creak, a shifting in the sediment, and the roof caves in, as tons of dirt pour through the cracked coffin and into your lungs. This moment is almost entirely analogous to “Immortal’s Tomb,” the fifth track of Heliopause Fleets. The pressure being built up throughout the first several tracks reaches its breaking point and unleashes itself in the form of nearly five minutes of relentless tech-laden brutality. A cacophony of harmonics, blast beats, chugs and sweeps await the listener as the tone of the album shifts from transient musical proficiency to an all-out, in-your-face attack of active musical brilliance.

Thirteen Bled Promises manage to create a full-length album which not only provides the listener with a solid one-off listen, but an ability to be repeated. It’s shamefully easy these days to breeze through a deathcore album and feel like deleting it after a single listen, however, with Heliopause Fleets, this isn’t the case. It’s easy for the listener to get lost in the various annals and crevices of the album listen after listen. In this manner, the only slight–and I mean slight–flaw in the album rears its head. It seems like it takes these Spanish shredders a little too long to really present just how talented they are. Once “Immortal’s Tomb” begins, the entire duration of the album is nothing short of jaw-dropping; truly a prodigal mastery of the fickle beast that is deathcore. However, the first four tracks are markedly more held back, making the familiar listener quick to skip them.

It’s been a couple months now, and while your body wasn’t recovered, there was a funeral. Your friends called it “special,” your family wept, even as they insisted it was a beautiful ceremony and they wouldn’t have changed a thing. Much like your memory, Thirteen Bled Promises create an album that will not be forgotten. Rather, Heliopause Fleets will truly live on in the playlists and scrobbles of deathcore enthusiasts across the globe, as it enters the ranks of albums by bands who have had many more years under their belts–and many more flops as well.

By Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Signal the Firing Squad - Abnegate

Artist: Signal the Firing Squad
Album: Abnegate
Rating: 5/5
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Every so often, a release becomes so built up that it seems unfathomable that it could possibly live up to its own hype. This can happen for a variety of reasons–incessant touring and advertising, internet hype-beasting, absurdly early announcement, etcetera. All of these were true for Australian deathcore giants Signal the Firing Squad, and their sophomore full-length, Abnegate. With the cult success of their debut release, Earth Crisis, combined with intense amounts of local and online promotion, the quartet were facing a release which could either enter them into a figurative deathcore hall-of-fame along with several other Aussie acts, or condemn them to a status of impending mediocrity. Fortunately for Signal the Firing Squad–and the listener–Abnegate functions as the former, as it brilliantly showcases the stunning progression and crushing brutality of these Sunshine Coast shredders.

Abnegate is a verb, and can be defined as a rejection or renunciation of valuable or commonly perceived values or facts. Signal the Firing Squad’s second album of the same name does just that, devastating what the listener’s previous experiences with deathcore might be. Every track culminates in an ideal blending of blasting snare and shredding guitar, which can seamlessly toggle into slow, pounding, bass-heavy drumming and downtuned, muddy chugging. More often than not, while the drums shift into a soul-shaking breakdown with one of the guitars following suit, the other guitar continues with a shreddy, intricate riff–the second single of the album, “Into the Mouth of the Leviathan” displays this as well as any, with a heavily middle-eastern influenced solo, laid brilliantly over a groove-laden breakdown. While the bi-polar shift in instrumentation occurs, the vocals stay constant, with shrill, sky-scraping highs and deep, nearly subterranean lows keeping the listener not just engaged, but guessing as well.

While each song is structured to flow stunningly from technical and speedy to sludgy and heavy, the songs manage to keep a very individual feel to them. By maintaining a dynamic and staggered structure, no song sounds the same as the last, or has the listener wondering, “wait, didn’t I just hear that?” While these problems might plague the average deathcore release, this is just one of many instances in which Signal the Firing Squad prove that they are far and away beyond average.

Abnegate isn’t just a masterpiece of technical deathcore on a track-by-track basis, however. Featuring two featured vocalists (both of whom members of other deathcore giants, Obey the Brave and Boris the Blade) and two instrumental interludes, there is not one point where the album sounds or feels “same-y.” Both instrumental tracks, “Pillars of Creation” and “Synapse Failure” see the band including more elements which aren’t consistent through the bulk of the album–bass heavy riffs, electronic effects and tactful inclusion of a killswitch-style effect amongst them. These tracks provide the only sort of breathing room from the listener, who is otherwise constantly smothered by the in-your-face nature of Signal the Firing Squad’s lethal combination of technicality and crushing brutality. Singles “Abominator” and “Into the Mouth of the Leviathan” feature guests Alex Erian and Daniel Sharp (respectively) keep the album vocally fresh, even when vocalist Nathan is far from boring.

Heavy, dynamic, technical and fluid are all “by-the-book” adjectives for Signal the Firing Squad’s sophomore release, Abnegate. What those words don’t properly convey is the skin-tingling sensation given by the solos, the ear-blistering speed of the blast beats, or the skull-smashing, soul-rending nature of the groovy, yet sludgy breakdowns pervasive throughout the album. If you’ve been waiting for a slamming, technical, brutal deathcore release to sink your ears into, look no further than Signal the Firing Squad’s Abnegate.

By Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Forsaken - Witness/Hell [EP]

Artist: Forsaken
Album: Witness/Hell [EP]
Rating: 4.75/5
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It’s becoming increasingly easy to write off bands in just about any genre for just about any arbitrary reason. More and more it seems common to hear about how deathcore band X “just isn’t heavy enough,” or “not technical enough” and metalcore band Y has a “mediocre singer” or “cliche album art/name/album title.” Every band seems to have to fill some sort of new and exciting niche to avoid being tossed aside and ignored after a pithy listen or two. Enter Forsaken, and their new EP Witness/Hell, which may not redefine the genre by any means, but makes for a more than worthwhile listen as it drags the listener through six layers of spine-shattering Hell.

“Wait, wait, wait,” you’re saying right now. “Is this just going to be another boring, run-of-the-mill deathcore EP by some band I won’t even remember ten minutes later?” The answer is no. While the Conneticut-based deathcore quintet don’t re-invent the genre, they provide a variety of perfectly blended elements to provide one of the most relentlessly heavy releases to hit the scene recently. Every track is a maelstrom of back-breaking chaos with little reprieve for the listener. While one guitar plays a noodling tremolo-laden lead, the other provide a downtuned, chugged-out foundation which, more often than not, is hammered into place by machine-gun speed drumming. The entire experience–metaphorically, much akin to a house–is roofed by low, guttural vocals that are just intelligible enough to keep the listener aware of the general theme of each song, which usual consists of hate-filled lyrics to fuel the microcosm of brutality present in every track.

The EP isn’t one big breakdown, either. This is perhaps where the real beauty and glimpse of actual magnificence of Witness/Hell shines through. Most tracks feature just a hint of technicality and extreme musical proficiency, laced carefully throughout the entire track. “The Hinge Factor” demonstrates this particularly well, opening with a sweeping, intricate guitar line which reappears at several points during the track. The vocals change as well to keep the listener on the edge of their seat, occasionally leaping up from murky, deep lows into piercing, screeched highs. These leaps into the realm of technical deathcore turn out to be Forsaken’s saving grace, keeping them from falling headlong into the only potential flaw for the EP.

Repetition is a deathcore band’s biggest hurdle. How to provide an uncanny, brutalizing experience without either being overwhelmingly polarizing or unbearably repetitious? Forsaken have this more-or-less down to a science. With the occasionally monotonous breakdown or same-sounding song progression, the short length of the EP along with the well-structured songs and sneaky infusion of technical time changes and dynamic melodies keeps Witness/Hell fresh. Without these elements pervasive throughout the release, Forsaken would simply have churned out another run-of-the-mill product from the cogs of the deathcore machine.

Listening to Witness/Hell is like listening to a shipwreck–in the best possible way. The unrelenting, uncompromising brutality present in every track, along with Forsaken’s penchant for the occasionally musical showboating makes Witness/Hell a near-perfect deathcore EP, so long as it is just that–an EP.

By Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Mercenaries - Everything Wrong with the World [2012]

Artist: Mercenaries

Album: Everything Wrong with the World

Rating: 4.5/5

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Concept albums can be a difficult beast to wrestle into submission–as often times the key lies in strutting along a fine line. On one side of the line lies one extreme: a haphazard collection of songs with no interrelated theme, which, while often easier to compile, risks leaving the listener unsatisfied. On the other side lies a complex–and frequently convoluted–storyline which can be just as engaging as it can be confusing, risking losing the listener entirely. Where’s the balance then? What combination of free-willed album structure and engaging storyline is “ideal” for ensnaring even the most disinterested fan? Enter Mercenaries, a four-piece Ontario-based hardcore act who annihilate standards of aggressive hardcore while maintaining a strong concept with their full-length release Everything Wrong with the World.

Everything Wrong with the World loosely collects a series of events, scenarios and attitudes and connects them smoothly throughout several tracks. While the specific content of each track differs, the theme is the same–corruption, greed, violence and social dissent–essentially, everything wrong with the world. How each theme is portrayed is just as fluid and constant, as Mercenaries constantly bash and brutalize the listener with dissonant riffs and punching breakdowns. The dissonance that pervades every track and permeates through every instrument is one of the multifaceted pleasures of the album, as not only do the instruments corrode and screech on their own, but they harmonize with the vocals and even the lyrics to create a filthy experience in the best possible way.

“Fiend” is possibly the keenest example of Mercenaries’ aggressive filth present on Everything Wrong with the World. While on some tracks, the guitar screeches sound forced, or the lyrics occasionally falter, none of these issues plague “Fiend.” From the frenetic introduction to the absolutely chaotic ending breakdown, the track portrays the drums at their hardest-hitting, the guitars at their highest-squealing and the vocals leading the charge through the fray. Additionally, no single problem persists throughout the album–a further accent to it’s conceptual adherence. While the odd segment of a track may fall short or fail to engage the listener, each track is so quickly paced and a microcosm of insanity and distress that by the time the listener realizes, “hey, this doesn’t do much for me,” the song has changed shape again, and morphed into an all-new beast. 

The brevity of each track is possibly the greatest saving grace on Everything Wrong with the World. Before a singular vice or segment can manage to get overbearing or boring, the song shifts. Similarly, Mercenaries make aggressive, in-your-face hardcore bred with elements of powerviolence and noise, all topped with high-pitched, half-shouted half-screamed vocals a la Stray from the Path. This concoction has the volatile potential to get too viscous or heavy to get through in one listen. However, the short average track length and interesting tempo changes combat this potential pitfall with ease, keeping the listener so engaged that one listen-through might easily turn into three or four before he or she even notices.

Squealing guitars, demolishing drums, cascading harmonies, brutalizing breakdowns and face-rearranging slams. All of these elements are present in Everything Wrong with the World, creating a chaotic, conceptual chimaera more akin to a maelstrom than a record. So while Mercenaries may have illustrated everything wrong with the world we live in today, they have also managed to depict everything right with hardcore.

By: Connor Welsh/Eccentricism 

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Review: Beneath the Surface - Deservant [EP] (2012)

Artist: Beneath the Surface
Album: Deservant
Rating: 4.5/5
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Metalcore, as a genre, has become easy to write off. Admittedly, when hearing descriptions of Beneath the Surface’s EP Deservant, that’s more or less exactly what I did. No matter how many times I was promised it was “heavier than you’d expect,” or “a must-listen,” I just sort of shrugged and responded, “Eh, another metalcore album. I’ll get around to it.” 

As it turns out, I was a fool to have waited and slept on this release for so long. The sophomore studio release from the talented Phoenix quintet is like a castle of wax built on a solid metalcore foundation, however, when ignited, it burns and melts over into heavier, deathcore territory and in-your-face hardcore beatdown territory alike. This dynamic aspect makes Deservant a brief, multifaceted release which provides something for everyone without becoming monotonous.

Deservant kicks off with a haunting, brutal breakdown–something which shouldn’t be terribly unfamiliar for fans of any of the genres the band is influenced by. While much of the instrumentation is standard fare, the guttural vocals and high production values keep it interesting. In addition to the outstanding job done mixing each track (The opening track “Final Declaration” being the best example), there is a stellar use of recurring themes–be it an intriguing riff or lyrical concept. Lyrically, while the album isn’t a compendium of Pulitzer-prize winning work, it’s written clearly and interestingly to match the beatdown tendencies of the band. Recurring lines akin to “Final Declaration’s” “You want salvation, but you don’t want the truth” are yelled in a straightforward and understandable manner to accent the skull-smashing nature of the music around it. Additionally, when the guitars take a more riff-laden turn and the drums begin to kick out blast beats, the vocals either sink to piercing highs or unintelligible lows, which not only sound fantastic, but let the instrumentation shine.

The highest points of the album don’t come just when the guitar becomes centrifugal or when the vocals are understandable, but when all the elements of the band work together and harmonize. “Conscience” showcases this, and the EP at it’s highest point. While one guitar harmonizes with the bass and the drums in a town-tuned, spine-shattering chug, the other guitar soars high using an intricate riff to surround the vocals and the other instruments like gift-wrapping on a present–a present which disguises a brutalizing bomb of a breakdown or bridge leading into the next maelstrom-laden segment of the track. In this manner, “Conscience” moves along delivering pulverizing hit after pulverizing hit, much like each track of the Deservant leaves the listener bloodied and battered.

There’s a lot more to Beneath the Surface than what I had expected–certainly more than just an average metalcore release. Whether Deservant is a deathcore EP with touches of metalcore, or a filth-laden metalcore release with touches of deathcore (or perhaps “filth” would just be a better categorization for the band to begin with) doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Deservant stands out and deserves to be enjoyed just as much, if not more so, than its contemporary, brutal peers.

By Connor Welsh/Eccentricism

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REVIEW: Whitechapel - Whitechapel [2012]

Artist: Whitechapel
Album: Whitechapel
Buy: Online Store

Tracklist
1. Make it Bleed
2. Hate Creation
3. (Cult)uralist
4. I, Dementia
5. Section 8
6. Faces
7. Dead Silence
8. The Night Remains
9. Devoid
10. Possibilities of an Impossible Existence



This is the fourth much anticipated full length release of this death metal/deathcore band.
As a big fan since the old days when 'The Somatic Defilement' first came out, i'm always hoping Whitechapel will be one of those bands that never fuck up, always progressing but never to the point it gets ridiculously stupid.
To this point they changed their sound with every new album (mainly with its predecessor 'A New Era of Corruption') and for me it always takes a few listens to apreciate the new style to its fullest.
This new self titled album is no exception, when i heard it for the first time i found the album lacking, short and uninspired with only 2 or 3 jewels that stood out, notice how i'm talking in the past sense here (epic bands always lead to epic expectations).
It was after a few more listens that i started to notice the sheer angry and dark themed vocals and atmospheric instrumentals more, and started to like it, very much!
The song structures on this record are a bit slower, heavier paced then previous ones and you really need to take the time and let it sink in.
helping with this process are the vocals, which are (as they always have been) unreletenting and some of the most brutal i have ever heard, you can definitely notice Phil puts his heart and soul into all the songs on this album.
Another thing that really fits in well with the heavy sound are the occasional guitar solos, in my opinion modern metal bands need to use these more!
You can tell the band tries hard to set itself apart from the millions of mediocre deathcore bands floating around (many of which are inspired by Whitechapel's earlier albums).


Favorite Tracks

Make it Bleed:
The album starts out strong with a peacefull piano intro transcending into a brutal fast paced riff and shit hits the fan fast.
After a while the song starts to slow down again and the creepy melodic guitars that set the tone for the rest of the album are introduced.
a powerfull first song most people will fall in love with on the first listen.

Hate Creation:
The first single they released and most people know already, you either love or hate it, and i actualy liked this one when i first heard it.
Somewhere halfway through the song you can hear Phil using the angry-normal-voice-talking thing that reminded me of Slipknot, but he pulls it off quite well in my opinion, some screams sound so fucking raw on this track, i love it!
This is one of the angriest songs on the album and i like it angry! It was also nice to see a different vocal style for a change, and for the haters: would you rather have cleans? ....thats what i thought! :P

(Cult)uralist:
Not much to say about this track, its one of the faster ones on the album, especially the drumming and the vocals are FAST at certain points, it all breaks down into a sweet solo near the end, nuff said.

Faces:
The song with the most brutal lyrics on the album, i wont spoil anything but lets just say some lines put a big smile on my face!

Dead Silence:
Most likely my favorite song on the album, though its still hard to choose at this point, it has everything this album stands for: melody, angry vocals/lyrics and a very good song structure, youll be sure to bang your head a few times to this song.
With some spine crushing spikes throughout the song, it all ends with a lovely eerie sounding outro that makes me feel all tingly inside, a good outro for a good song.

The Night Remains:
With the dark atmospheric outro behind us, this track fires off and REALLY gets the blood pumping, excellent riffage, underlying melodic guitars and some very well timed vocals to go along with it make this one of the best tracks on the whole album.
My only problem with it is that its kinda short, towards the end there is this epic build up...but sadly doesnt lead to anything and the song just ends... such a waste.

Possibilities of an Impossible Existence:
Fan boys know the drill: the last song on a Whitechapel album is always an epic one, this is also the case here.
Preceded by a instrumental song, the song starts off with an epic melodic and bouncy sound, you KNOW the album is coming to the end just by listening to this.
Its like they are trying to cram all the instrumentals, atmosphere, brutal riffage and vocals into one package before finishing with a outro that sounds similar to the piano intro of the first song, which encourages you to give the entire album another spin.


Final Verdict:

Though for some it may not seem like much at the first listen, specialy for old school fans who like deathcore and nothing else, this album is WAY more than you think it is.
With this new release Whitechapel progressed yet again to their own stylish sound while maintaining the angry brutal vibe people love them for, they tried to please everyone here, and succeeded.
If you heard the two singles they released and didnt like them, dont dismiss this album, chances are you will LOVE it as a whole (if you REALLY dont like it there are a million other mediocre deathcore bands out there for you instead and you just wasted your time reading all this!).
This album has some of the best songs since 'This is Exile' and i can only hope this band will keep impressing me with their genre defining sound in the future.

Rating: 4.5/5

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