What the hell, now even Metal Blade has hit the melodic Swedish metalcore arena, and with a christian band at that!? I'm not sure what to make of this. I thought this band's last record was promising, but I don't feel that there has been a progression here. In fact, where their last record was pretty burly and reminded me a lot of the older European style of metalcore, this sounds like just another slightly (and I do mean slightly) above average melodic Swedish metalcore band. The riffing nods to melodic Swedish death metal all over the place, the vocal screams are totally typical, I can hear riffs that might as well have been lifted from old At the Gates or As I Lay Dying's American contemporaries Darkest Hour alike, etc. Are they competent songwriters? Generally, yes. And sure, there are some sweet melodic lead runs over semi-complex rhythms ala early Shai Hulud that are totally powerful - I fucking love that stuff. But these guys are confused... It's a mishmash. They want to be original, but there's just too much going on with no linear thought process. "Forever" uses some awesome singing vocals along with the screaming and there's a lot of faster riffing with some octave chords and a greater sense of energy. Out of nowhere both "Distance is Darkness" and "A Thousand Steps" unleash some chugging rhythms and crazy go nuts dissonance that, while a welcome dose of variety, does little to really add to the record because the songs are, quite frankly, terrible for 90% of their duration. And meanwhile, "Behind Me Lies Another Fallen Soldier" is slower and far more melodic, introducing some clean guitars and spoken vocals for a far more emotional delivery that really works for the band - a style devoid of any generic Swedish bullshit in favor of interesting chord phrasings and simple, forceful writing. Hell, "Song 10" even starts out sounding like indie rock... before thankfully reverting to a slower and more emotional approach ala "Behind Me Lies Another Fallen Soldier". Now, as for the production? The drum sound is pretty inexcusable, basically sounding like a dense drum machine with a great snare (sometimes, the rolls sound awful) and tolerable cymbals. But the fucking kick drums sound ridiculous! The rigidity is bad enough, but they're dense too, so it's this insanely fucked up sort of thudding, taut click... I've never heard such a thing. The guitars sound good, the distortion's well honed and fairly clear, blending nicely with the vocals. But I can't really make out any bass at all. There's a big gap between the guitars and the percussion. If they upped the bass and threw out the drum triggers this thing would sound good, and the record would be more powerful as a result. Damn those drums are distracting... I love the layout, which is no surprise coming from Jacob Bannon. The colors are consistent, the text is consistent, the imagery is interesting and filled with busy layers of texture... it's not too complex (or at least not obviously so) and it looks awesome. On their last disc these guys were among the few christian bands I've heard in recent times that handled their message with tact, and here they seem to be exploring more of a personal message, keeping the "faith" even more low-key, which suits me just fine... even if the lyrics aren't anything special. "What is this world, what is this we've created? In the burdens of this life I cannot rest, this world means nothing, Everything we hold will pass away..." In the end all I can say is that the world does not need any more of these bands, and bigger labels, especially metal labels, should not be signing these bands until they are more mature and developed, if not fucking original. As I Lay Dying does have potential, but they need to focus to do something with it. This record lacks focus and its bulk is leaning in a far more unoriginal direction than I had expected them to tread. A shame... they could do so much more. I actually wanted to like this, but aside from a few really good songs it's all filler.
[Metal Blade]
Running time - 38:44, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Forever, Behind Me Lies Another Fallen Soldier, Song 10]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com
