Artist: Beyond the Embrace
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 5/18/04
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Title: Insect Song Artist: Beyond the Embrace Label: Metal Blade Records Release Date: 5/18/04 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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3 | ||
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4 | ||
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Listen to the track "Fleshengine Breakdown" (Courtsey of Metal Blade)
Abyss's Review:
This band does an admirable job of taking influence from the later-era Gothenburg sound, and will most likely be a big hit with fans of Soilwork and In Flames. In fact, this album reminds me a great deal of Soundtrack To Your Escape minus the more sappy parts. The harsh vocals remind me so much of Anders, I often had to remind myself that I wasn't listening to In Flames. One could also draw comparisons to Sentenced's recent output, especially in the slower parts.
"One word review: Solid." To be fair to this band, however, the In Flames and Sentenced comparisons only go so far. True, the band utilizes the same melodic guitar leads dancing over chugging rhythmic riffs that would be almost brutal if they didn't have so much 'bounce' to them, but this band has a predatory gleam in its eye that was extinguished long ago in many of the bands that these guys count as influences. They still sound hungry, which is a good thing.
However, they will no doubt have to endure such comparisons from asshole critics like me. But they will get through it because, although they aren't the most groundbreaking group out there, they do write good songs and present them well. In short, they are very easy to listen to and very easy to like.
While many people accurately describe the melodic scene as dead, that doesn't mean that there is no longer anything of worth in it. Like power metal in the early nineties and thrash in the mid nineties, each genre goes through its low points, and melodic death is quickly approaching its nadir. But the most disciplined and true acts are the ones who still love what they're doing despite all the derision. We'll soon see if that's still the case with Beyond The Embrace. One word review: Solid.
Death's Review:
"This is an eminently listenable album." Like Metallica? Like Gothenburg, Massachusetts style thrash meets melodic metalcore? Wanna hear James Hetfield singing for Unearth? Then check out Beyond the Embrace. They have melodic guitar lines and a total Hetfield-style vocal feel. Well, Hetfield if he was perhaps a bit less country and with a bit more crunch. Honestly, I'm impressed with this album, as it was much more melodic and accessible than I was expecting. I thought from the imagery that perhaps this was a death metal band, but I was wrong. Headbanging style riffs, guitar solos and barking thrash vocals all have been heard before, but admit it, they're always fun. This may sound a touch dated and the band definitely could mature and strive for a bit more overall, but this is nitpicking. This is an eminently listenable album and I've been cranking it voluntarily for a week. This is a solid three-and-a-half skull record. But I'll go with the three, just to give Beyond the Embrace room to improve with their next record and beyond. But let's at least call it three-and-a-half skulls with a bullet. I like it because in all of its familiarity, it sounds different in today's music scene. I expect that I may like the next album even better, when these guys take things to even higher levels and perfect their interesting hybrid of some of my favorite styles.
Hel's Review:
It was a very strange experience putting this CD into my player immediately after the new Killswitch Engage (the other JC review this week). My mind drifted off for a few minutes at the beginning of the album, and at a certain point, I found myself hearing the music and being really, really confused. I admit, I didn't spend much energy on the last Beyond the Embrace release, but I had never really considered this band to be of the same ilk as Killswitch. But placing these two in immediately proximity threw me for a loop. Certainly they are different bands, but there are some similarities - and those are really similar.
"The musicianship is definitely the best part of the album, particularly the guitar work." There is actually a fairly large range of styles that Beyond the Embrace combine, going from hardcore to melodic death to a number of places in between. Where a particular song falls within this broad spectrum has a great deal to do with how much I like that song, and I have discovered that there are some that I like much more than others. This has me in something of a quandary, as I am at something of a loss when it comes to my feelings about the album as a whole. The parts I like, I really like, but the ones I don’t, well, you get the point. So I keep spinning this, again and again, trying to make a decision.
The musicianship is definitely the best part of the album, particularly the guitar work. But then, it has to be if you are going to make the “melodic” part of the melo-death equation work. Interestingly, there are three guitarists, in addition to the bassist, for a grand total of six guys in the band. The vocalist is the weakest link, in my opinion, as there are times when I find his voice to be fine, but at other times I find it annoying. But the talent the band as a whole possesses is undeniable.
This is one of those times I really would like to give out a half skull. More than anything, this is a 3.5 skull record. If I liked the vocalist more overall, it wouldn’t be so difficult for me to decide between 3 and 4 skulls, and since I don’t hate his voice as much as I could, I’ll concede the half skull and give the band the full four. This is definitely an album that anyone with a yen for Massachusetts-style melo-death-core (emphasis on “melo”) should definitely add to their collection.
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