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RELEASED: August 30th, 2005
PRODUCER:Zach Hodges
LABEL:Solid State Records
BAND:
Jason Wisdom
Alex Kenis
"Count" Seth Hecox
Brent "Duck" Duckett |
+
Killer instrumental skills, progressive songwriting, huge production
-
Pacing is a bit odd in places, Ryan Clark’s guest spot is easily missed |
TRACKS:
1.March of the Dead 2.Into Oblivion 3.One Man Parade 4.Elegy: Deception, Lament, Triumph 5.Night’s Sorrow 6.The Epigone 7.Beyond Adaptation 8.No Fall Too Far 9.Ex Nihilo 10.Denoument 11.The Trivial Paroxysms |
OVERVIEW
Christian music is an odd animal. Most of the time, the industry winds up cranking out clones of whatever happens to be popular at the time, and the bands themselves are forgotten after a record or two simply because they bring nothing new to the table. But every so often, you wind up with a new kid on the block that not only can hang with the new crop of artists, but earns the respect of the music community in general by showing us that Christian music doesn’t have to be derivative garbage. Bands like Mortification, Tourniquet, Living Sacrifice, Zao, Extol, Believer, Vengeance Rising…all of these guys exploded out of the gate and demanded attention from secular and Christian metalheads alike with albums that ripped both the secular and Christian metal communities a new one and left most people’s jaws on the floor.
Go ahead and add Becoming the Archetype to that list.
What we have here is a band that blends just about every style of extreme metal, throws in a healthy dose of hardcore (although certainly not enough to earn the “metalcore” tag, in my opinion), and taps into a prog-based sound that makes this record far more unique than most of the current metal crop. For a bit better comparison, take the expansive prog-death arrangements of bands like Opeth, add the thunderous breakdowns of bands like Bury Your Dead and Unearth, the guitar acrobatics that made Dream Theater and Symphony X fans drool, and the blastbeat drumming of early 90’s death metal (Living Sacrifice’s “Inhabit” and “Nonexistent” are clearly an influence here), and blend it all together for an album that’s quite unlike most of the verse-chorus-breakdown metalcore crap that seems far too ubiquitous these days.
SONGS
Terminate Damnation starts off with the ominous March of the Dead, an organ-driven funeral-esque piece that turns on a dime into the blastbeat fury of Into Oblivion, where we find furious trem-picking, off-time guitar breaks, and a classical guitar interlude all baked into one slab of prog-death goodness. One Man Parade features a great guitar break and isn’t a bad song at all, but it mostly serves as a precursor to the grandiose Elegy, an 11-minute, 3-movement monster complete with piano interludes and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it guest appearance by Demon Hunter’s Ryan Clark. BTA follow Elegy with the classical guitar suite Night’s Sorrow, which is well-written and beautifully performed, but the next track The Epigone brings back the crunch with a vengeance and is one of my favorites on here – the breakdown on this one is absolutely monstrous. Beyond Adaptation is definitely the most chaotic track on here, with almost a Dillinger Escape Plan feel to some parts of it, and No Fall Too Far takes more of a brooding approach, rather than trying to out-do the speed and chaos of the previous track. Ex Nihilo is another one of my favorite tracks on here – don’t miss the headbanging dual solos on this one – which leads into the classical-esque interlude Denouement, and finally the towering closer The Trivial Paroxysm, which does a remarkable job bringing this concept-driven album to a close with well-placed piano parts and some of the best leads on the record.
CONCLUSION
Becoming the Archetype really exploded out of the gate with this one, and as far as I’m concerned, any hype they get is nothing less than what they deserve. For a debut album to hit this hard, showcase this much instrumental virtuosity, and blow most of their contemporaries and label-mates out of the water with originality and heaviness is borderline astonishing, and this album delivers in style. Highly recommended for fans of any genre of metal. Or shoot, even if you’re not a metal fan. Pick it up anyway.
Review
by Matt Rewinski
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