How It Ends - Beloved
After the skull crushing heaviness of their debut it's a little disappointing to hear them retreat to not quite as heavy of a sound on this sophomore follow up. The big irony is that the amazing low end crunch of their last record was done with a studio musician as they had no full time bassist. Now they do and he's way lower in the mix. Go figure! Don't get me wrong, this thing is still a nice slab of heavy hatecore and there's definitely a few tasty cuts that match the fury (if not the power) of their first record but that slow creep chugging they employ so well is just not as tough sounding here.
The other area they made a slight tweak is the vocals. He seems to have dropped an octave or two which makes sense for this style of music but now I think he sounds way too much like the guy from 100 Demons. His previous style was a little more scathing and much more metal influenced rather than this more generic hardcore sound. Still, this would not even be an issue if you weren't familiar with the first record and I'm sure most hardcore fans will like this change.
Another area they fall a little short in is the general moshability of the riffs. Their first record is chock full of Grave-like mid-paced double bass grooves that definitely stick to the ribs but these riffs are few and far between in this latest record. Maybe it's another conscious move into a less metal/more hardcore sound but either way it's a shame knowing this band is capable of some truly brutal music way beyond anything in the hardcore realm.
I still like this record a lot more than almost anything else in this genre but I think this band went from a genre defining classic on their debut to a solid if not exceptional record on this follow up. Hopefully these guys halt the decline into hardcore mediocrity and bring back the absolute heaviness that made them untouchable on their last record.
The other area they made a slight tweak is the vocals. He seems to have dropped an octave or two which makes sense for this style of music but now I think he sounds way too much like the guy from 100 Demons. His previous style was a little more scathing and much more metal influenced rather than this more generic hardcore sound. Still, this would not even be an issue if you weren't familiar with the first record and I'm sure most hardcore fans will like this change.
Another area they fall a little short in is the general moshability of the riffs. Their first record is chock full of Grave-like mid-paced double bass grooves that definitely stick to the ribs but these riffs are few and far between in this latest record. Maybe it's another conscious move into a less metal/more hardcore sound but either way it's a shame knowing this band is capable of some truly brutal music way beyond anything in the hardcore realm.
I still like this record a lot more than almost anything else in this genre but I think this band went from a genre defining classic on their debut to a solid if not exceptional record on this follow up. Hopefully these guys halt the decline into hardcore mediocrity and bring back the absolute heaviness that made them untouchable on their last record.
