I'm afraid it is time for the nice old man on the right of the picture to sit down as well
#4 TAC: Ezerath – Overture: The Heir ApparentIf I didn’t know any better, I’d think you picked up on the fact that Slice the Cake’s latest is one of my favourite albums. This album definitely feels like it is trying to be that album from time to time, only with less fluctuation between heavy death passages and atmospheric soundscapes, less diversity in vocal techniques, less punchy riffs in the breakdown sections and an overall less appealing sound. That sounds like a whole bunch of complaints, but comparing to one of my all-time favourite albums will always make music seem like shit.
The best way to describe this musically is one big string of strong tech-death craftsmanship. Unfortunately the weak point is definitely the vocalist, he could have been the extra flavor this band needed by adding a bit more diversity to the music, but instead he sounds very one-dimensional, even in the spoken word parts he sounds kind of the same. Luckily, the music is good enough to lift this up to fourth/third place. Granted, the drum sonics are kind of odd, and together with the technicality of them sound a bit predictable and robotic, you know, not organic-sounding. But let’s get on with some of the individual songs.
In reality, most songs on here have something really appealing about them, whether it is the overall preachy church-like atmosphere overwhelming “Temple of the Forsaken”, or the medieval mid-section followed by an emotionally charged guitar solo in “The Sound of Knell”, or those cool synthesized bell sounds in the chorus of “Whispers of Ruin”, some of those moments are just overshadowed by the incredibly-on-the-forefront tech-death/deathcore that has been spewed all over this record.
I don’t want to make it seem like I did not enjoy this album, because man I did for real, so let’s move on to the best song and one of the best of the whole round, “A Heart, an Eye, and a Womb”. Opening with acoustic guitars and spoken word tracks, this sounds very suspiciously close to an evil version of Slice the Cake’s “The Lantern” but quickly moves out of that section into brutal deathcore, and from deathcore into almost blackmetal-like tremolo picking, providing that great atmospheric soundscape. It is for that reason that I also love the lead guitars around the middle of “In a Gale of Inferno”, they add an extra melodic layer to the music that overtakes the brutal rhythm section that dominates this album. What I also love about these two songs is that the vocals are more complimentary to the music than on some of the songs where it sounds more like a heavy rhythm layer burying the other instruments. The way the lyrics were constructed on this particular track definitely helped in that regard. And then the medieval mid-section that I get reminded of later again with a similar one on “The Sound of Knell” moves the song back into that fast, huge sound. An incredible effort of progressive deathcore, this tune.
After one listen, I was sure you would end up on the bottom, this is a pretty hard album to get through (especially for one that’s only 46 minutes long) but the pay-off wasn’t bad. The end result is some great musicianship, with okay songwriting and an average choice of vocals, I can see this band being great with some minor adjustments, right now though it’s just good but not much more.
For the longest time I was thinking you and the fogeys were messing with me through PM, jokingly letting you send super heavy music and see how I would react to it, but the longer it went on the more I started doubting that theory. Maybe you just really like extreme music.
Lonestar = RedTAC = Orange#3 = Purple#2 = Blue#1 = Green1.
2. A Heart, an Eye, and a Womb3.
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10. In a Gale of Inferno11.
12. Revolution Come Undone13. A Dream Within a Dream14.
15. Destined to Remember16.
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22. Hear My Call23.
24. Whispers of a Ruin25. Never Like This (A Dream)26. Horizons27.
28. Eternally Mine29. Breach of Faith30. The Sound of Knell31.
32. Erasure33.
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36. Mindlessness37. Temple of the Forsaken38.
39. Airways40.
41. Hand of a Serth42.
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Same as with lonestar's album, this one was actually pretty good. Didn't match the top 3, but I will definitely return to it. If anything I've trained my ears to get more used to technical deathmetal
Is Train biased towards the Dutch band? Does Cardiacs not suck as much as most seem to think they do? Has Parama's music become acceptable to the more normal DTF'ers / has Train grown to like his bad music? Find out in the next episode of Train Roulette III: The Cool Kids Edition!
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Topic: Train Roulette III: The Cool Kids Edition v. THE END.... OR IS IT? (Read 59295 times)