2005-03-23
Just two years in existence, these young Orange County extreme metalers have produced a surprisingly mature and well structured album.
Combing motifs from metal core, death, and good ol’ thrash, the album delivers one aggressive cut after the other, with the vocals being the main link to melody, using some emo vocals tastefully, strung in with the harsher, more aggressive vocals used most of the time.
The drumming here is an immediate focal point, fast, highly technical, almost machine-like, guitars are down tuned and well played, with an almost absent minded lack of leads, thus differentiating them from the high rollers in the genre, such as Killswitch Engage and God Forbid, to name but two.
Minion is one of the strongest cuts, quite catchy, and very aggressive, the vocals tend towards a low, raspy metal core growl, quite unique, with the emo ones being somewhat less interesting, still, they serve their purpose, and ad a more melodic approach to the otherwise purely technical music.
Its interesting to see Nuclear Blast, a label famous for their power and death metal roster, step into the growing world of metal-core, but if the rest of the bands they sign have the same potential as this one, then they should do pretty well with this genre as well.
Alon Miasnikov