Review: Becoming The Archetype | Dichotomy

Since Between The Buried And Me have recently crossed over from metalcore into straight up progressive metal, Becoming The Archetype have now stepped up and taken the crown as the most epic metalcore band in the genre. With Devin Townsend behind the mixing board on this attempt, and a slew of impressive instrumentation and musicianship, together the team delivered one of the more solid metal albums of the year with Dichotomy. Only a very few quirks keep this record from being the very best.

Becoming The Archetype have gone through a couple of member changes since their debut record, Terminate Damnation. After losing a few of the early guitarists, the band gained guitarist Alex Kenis of Aletheian who was most likely responsible for the ever so progressive The Physics Of Fire, released just last year. After losing Alex, the band regained original guitarist Jon Star. The mix up of the two guitarists may have helped the band keep diversity between the last two albums, as Dichotomy isn’t quite as beefy as the previous album is, but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good as The Physics of Fire. It may even be better.

Not only are the songs very well written on this record, but they couldn’t have been better produced, proving that Devin Townsend truly is a genius at what he does. One may not hear more soundscapes and clever effects present in a metalcore album as much as they will on this record. The addition of guest appearances from Devin himself, Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter, and soprano Susan Richter really keep the songs fresh, and although the track lengths may have been cut down a bit from the previous two records, the production really keeps these tracks sounding more epic than ever.

Speaking of that overused word, you really can’t leave it out when listening to the final track, “End of an Age”, which sounds like a medley between Becoming The Archetype, Opeth, and Amon Amarth. The repetitive yet beautiful ending to the song is a perfect way to cap off a great album, although it ends much faster than you would like. A song or two more would have made up for the shorter song lengths to keep this album ending a bit too fast.

Becoming The Archetype have successfully written three very solid records and are well on their way to securing their stand in a fizzling genre. With songs like “Mountain of Souls” and “Deep Heaven”, there’s no doubt they are pushing the envelope, creating the most unique sounds in modern metalcore, and diversifying the scene. Be sure to check out Dichotomy for your fix of earth quaking metal.

Score: 4.0/5

Today, the World is at War.

Call of Duty: World at War has come out today. Yes.

Today, Hope Runs Deep.

Gears of War 2 has finally come out. Go buy it.

Porcupine Tree Binge.

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New Dredg!

Dredg have announced the release date for their new record. March 24th, 2009. Mark your calendars people. You will see tons of updates here when more news is announced about it.

Review: Trenches | The Tide Will Swallow Us Whole

Over the past few years more and more bands of different genres seem to be incorporating the style of post metal, showing off the influences of bands such as Isis and Neurosis, while the post metal bands themselves tend to try and keep a distinct sludge sound. Trenches are a post metal studio project whose most notable feature is the involvement of Jimmy Ryan, former vocalist of Haste The Day. Instead of going for a unique sound, the band seems to have fell into a wannabe Isis / Neurosis type of vibe on their debut, The Tide Will Swallow Us Whole.

A couple things are indeed unique though; one being the fact that Jimmy Ryan is actually doing vocals for a band like this. At times his signature, harsh screams sound surprisingly well over the sludgy areas of this album, especially the first song of the CD. Once the song flows into the more atmospheric sections, his voice immediately sounds out of place. There are actually a slew of different vocal approaches throughout this album from aggressive yelling to dull, careless singing to Chino Moreno mimicry attempts to low, beastly roars to some impressive vocal harmonies.

One of the better singing parts of the album comes at the end of the standout track, “Pathways”. The song’s structure and flow stand out from all of the other tracks, as nearly nothing is repeated and the aforementioned singing climax really separates this song from the rest of the album. The majority of the tracks, however, seem to have a simple verse/chorus/verse structure, leaving them tasteless and forgettable after a few spins. Some tracks also have awful sounding moments only to be followed by great moments later on. A good example of this is “Bittersweet”, with its tired singing and nu-metal palm muting, which later transitions into a breathtaking piano and organ section climaxing into some heavier sections with graceful atmospheric guitar leads.

The Tide Will Swallow Us Whole was once in a list of my most anticipated albums of the year, and it was later quite quickly added to my list of disappointments. The record is good, but it’s not nearly as good or as epic and impressive as expected. The amount of atmosphere on the album is minimal (unless all of it was saved up for the final 7 minutes of ambiance at the end of “Cornered”), and the sludge parts are extremely cliché. The song writing is bland and predictable, sounding like a sludge inspired metalcore band. Either way, I’m looking forward to a future release from Trenches. Here’s to hoping the band progresses with their songwriting and makes a unique post-metal sound of their own, rather than making a record filled with several other band’s ideas.

Rating: 3.0/5