What are you expecting from a band discovered and signed by As I Lay Dying’s vocalist Tim Lambesis and subsequently signed to Metal Blade? Satanic, primal black metal? Political grindcore? Nope, this is decent quality Christian metalcore, and it comes dangerously close to being as good as if not better than As I Lay Dying’s under whelming Shadows Are Security (despite what MT2 says).
Though not bringing anything remotely original to the table, much like recent effort by the likes of Diecast, Rosesdead, War of Ages, Dead Man In Reno and even label mates Unearth, ALES does thing with competence and solid song writing that has all the expected modern metalcore trappings; mid range growls, hardcore screams, clean vocal breaks, cantering melodic death metal dual harmonies, breakdowns and a very slight injection of Southern rock (that’s slightly overplayed in the promotion of the band). It’s not going to make believers out of metalcore detractors, but certainly has appeal to the genre’s fans. Starting with the impressive opening noodle of “Cold Summer” and pretty much holding course throughout the 11 polished examples of metalcore, ALES, like virtually twin band AILD, wear their heart on their sleeve for much of their content with uplifting religious conviction delivered through stout riffs and soaring choruses, but it’s never overbearing. The enjoyable gallop of “Let’s Spark to Fire” and “Dying to be Beatiful”, catchy “The Black Art”, the more urgent “Romance Creates Killers”, hefty slightly Southern close of “Amadeus” and even the quick southern groove during closes “Another Revolution” show that ALES have a firm grasp on the genre’s structures and don’t try anything too cute or experimental.
In The Disaster is a good, solid, if by the numbers metalcore record that definitely please fans of As I Lay Dying and other similar Metal Blade bands
