Album: Verisimilitude & The Second Estate
Review:
Historically I have never been the biggest metalcore fan. No offense, it just isn’t my cup of tea. Now, since I started doing album reviews about two years back, I have started to become more opened minded with my metal music. Still, when I first received an e-mail from a musician describing the band’s style as “metalcore?,” I was a bit hesitant. However, I said to myself that I would keep an open mind when listening to this album, and give the band a fair chance. In the end, I am glad I didn’t let my preconceived view stop me from checking out this band.
The band I am talking about, Art Far Away, is up and coming metal act from Sweden. Although they might fall under the metalcore label, there are plenty of other styles of metal that this band conveys through their music. The vast magnitude of extreme musical compositions that this band has to offer makes this album really stand out. Verisimilitude & The Second Estate, the band’s debut release, is an intense slamming emotionally charged beast. Art Far Away delivers 12 tracks of extreme madness that never sound dual. The 8-string guitars used to record this album provide a mighty punch, and show an ambitious group of young metal musicians. Along with the killer guitar section the drummer in this group is a technical rhythmic madman. Some of the drum fills he provides on this album are ridiculously rapid to the point where I am left shell shocked. The singer’s vocals, to my surprise, were better than the usual metalcore style vocals I hear. He never sounded like a goblin being sexual assaulted, so that definitely helped me enjoy this release even more.
Moving on from the musicianship to the songs, I must say that Art Far Away created some extreme technically driven tracks. Their raw passion and energy reminds me a bit of how the Dillinger Escape Plan sounds. The album opens with a rapid note crushing song called, “Cancer.” There is this huge wall of sound that comes smashing out of the speakers with tremendous force. Midway through the song the band slows the tempo down and there is this robotic voice effect used to give the song a futuristic feel. Once the robotic voice goes away the singer comes back to lay down some aggressive vocal lines. Personally, I really like the unique compositions this band came up with during the song, and I find that Art Far Away quickly establishes their distinct creative brand of extreme metal. Track number two, “Obfuscation,” is another technically driven guitar and drum assault. This time the lead singer just lets out all his inner rage, and his extreme emotional tone is unbelievable. Sometimes before he screams out in agony, there are these small conversations he has with himself that make him sound like he is completely losing his sanity. Song number three, “The King,” is more of a straight up aggressive track. Here the band does not hold back and the raw power is turned up to the highest level possible.
About midway through the album, the music only gets heavier and more technically interesting. Songs like “White Man’s Burden” and “Gentleman’s Club” are insane musical rides that flow with a powerful surge of unapologetic emotion. The riffs never become repetitive or simplistic and create huge sounding atmospheres. My favorite track on this album is “The Man Who Wasn’t There” because the way the riffs are recorded along with the vocals and drums is just right. The main verse is very moving in the sense that you feel the energy flowing through body waiting to be released once the main chorus riff begins. Art Far Away carries this emotional build-up style on the last couple songs which really sends this album off into extreme technical metal madness.
Verisimilitude & The Second Estate, is a debut release that delivers extreme metal music with pure force and self-determined passion. Art Fart Away is a group who does not fall into one metal category, and can be best described as a young hungry extreme music act with a sound to blow out your speakers. I am glad that I did not let the metalcore tag stop me from checking out this band. This group offers a perfect chance for people to releases those festering emotions, so I highly recommend Art Far Away for all you energy releasing metal fans. My final words are to break down the walls of metal categorization and let the music do the talking, or growling.
No comments:
Post a Comment