2009 was a pretty solid year for the ‘shreddier’ side of metalcore/deathcore with a slew of solid releases by The Eyes of a Traitor, Conducting from the Grave, Within the Ruins, Painted in Exile and the second album, Kingdom of Might from Woe of Tyrants. Well, 2010 looks to be as shredtastic already with the likes of Son of Aurelius, Veil of Maya and Woe of Tyrants’ follow up to Kingdom of Might, Threnody.
Now, I’ll come out right away and say Threnody didn’t come right out of the gate and blow me away like Kingdom of Might. Maybe it’s the fact Kingdom of Might started with the killer “Sol Deo Gloria” and (after an intro) Threnody starts with the rather forgetful “Creature of the Mire”, but rest assured, once the starting solo of “Venom Eye” started I began to relax, though it still took several listens for me to get to Kingdom of Might levels of excitement, and even then those moments are a few less. It may sound like Threnody is a bit of a letdown, and I’d be lying if it wasn’t, but that’s mostly due to the fact I loved Kingdom of Might so much-I mean it was on my year end list, and I don’t quite see Threnody getting there for some reason, although a very solid record.
Everything that made Kingdom of Might is in place: a Christian based record of solo filled galloping that’s more melodic death metal than metalcore, a razor sharp precision and delivery and a confidence that’s tangible. However, there just aren’t quite as many ‘wow’ moments as Kingdom of Might. There are moments of “Venom Eye”, the ambitious title track and the synth drenched duo of “Bloodsmear” and “Singing Surrender” and parts of the closing “Descendit Ad Inferos (The Harrowing Of Hell)” which are brilliant, but I’m simply not peeing myself or returning to Threnody as much as I though I would, as the likes of “Creature of the Mire”, “Tempting the Wretch”, “The Venus Orbit”, “Lighting Over Atlantis” seem a bit throwaway and being released barely a year after Kingdom of Might, I wonder if the band rushed Threnody a bit.
Personally, the Son of Aurelius CD is immediately entertaining me more from start to finish, but Threnody is still a winning album with a couple of breath taking moments (solos) worth the price of admission and an album that will grow on me once the expectations after Kingdom of Might wear off.
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Wow, I expected a much more excited review after hearing this one.
To me this one is working on so many more levels than their last one did.
The intro reminds me of Nile or Behemoth, and yeah the last album had some of that kind of flair also, but this album sounds darker to me which I like way better than that happy Iron Maiden twiddly-dee guitar crap that all the kids are doing these days.
Come to think of it I felt the same way about A Plea For Purging’s last album, which you were disappointed with also.
To each his own I guess, but unless you’re Steve Vai and can do something other than just play a million miles an hour I don’t need to hear all that.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 13:55Yeah- its a weird one for me- i love the record but cant seem to get excited about it or go back to it.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 14:31Behold the Lion IMO still remains their best to date.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 17:06This band does have a little more melodic death leanings, but it’s the same stop and go riffing as all those other metalcore acts along with nintendo guitar noodling. I can’t tell this band apart from the rest of the spastic American acts out there today.
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 07:44I agree about the spastic stuff. It tends to grate on my nerves after a while as I am a fan of actual songwriting, but I think Woe of Tyrants are one of the better bands that do this style.
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 13:51