I’m trying not to get down on the label or Christian metal, as I’ve long defended both at this site and others, but they aren’t helping me put at all with releases like this. There’s absolutely nothing on Indicator of note, and I think even ardent Christian metal and deathcore fans would find Indicator pretty run of the mill and retreaded. It seems like the band just re cut and rerecorded different riffs and choruses from their last two releases, and just strung them together in a different order.  There’s gruff death metal vocals, burly breakdowns, some melodic leads, a graceful moments to remind you they are christian (‘Breakthrough”)  and lots of uplifting, sugary clean choruses. The likes of “Strange Forest”, “Division”, “Ceasing Time” and”The Truth in Foundations” are all basically the same song. Only the rumbling and clean vocal-less  “Royal State” with its The Acacia Strain like lurch remotely caught my ear. Christian metal really needs a shot in the arm right now.

I’ll wait and see what the upcoming Those Who Fear  and reunited Overcome offer, as they seem to be a bit beefier than the labels current trend, but if you are looking for some Christian metal with balls, look no further than the latest Becoming the Archetype release rather than this cookie cutter, scene filling disposable music.

“The Continuance” is a short filler intro before the first tune kicks in. “The War Within Us” opens with a tasty breakdown, which then leads willingly into speed metal riffage. Eventually the chorus kicks in with cleanly sung vocals and screams overlapping the singing. Usually with most metalcore bands the clean vocals seem to ruin the music, but here they brighten up the sound and it gives the band a more epic and grandiose tone. The next track “The Revealing” ups the ante in the guitar department and showers the listener with an epic array of thrash metal riffs. Also the cleanly sung chorus for this song is an album highlight; it’s very catchy.

The next three tracks on the album are where the band shines the most in their metalcore delivery. “Hidden Eyes” has this twisting melodic riff around the minute mark, and the solos that are presented to us in “Seeker” and “Structures” are jaw dropping.

“Unsuitable Patterns” is an alright song but acts more as filler before “The March” kicks in. More of a short slow number that is carried out with emotional instrumentation, and finely sung vocals. “The March” transitions into “The Accuser,” which is another semi-filler track. It does however contain a few decent riffs.

The second last song “From The Mouth” is the heaviest track on the album. A breakdown opens the tune and it’s delightfully nasty. Thrash riffs, gang vocals, and another breakdown (1:30, had me head banging like crazy) Onward to Olympas tears it apart.

Album closer “Rebuilt” carries on with the attitude from the last track and spices things up with a more direct yet emotionally intense ride. The heaviness carries on until two minutes in where a southern guitar melody arises; eventually quietly sung vocals get louder while a solo hides underneath the music that pieces itself together.

A few filler tracks and a corny intro are the only things that irked me about this release. Other then that the album is pure gold just like everything Facedown Records (and Strikefirst) releases except for The Great Commission…they just plain suck.

Now most of you have left, I’ll continue…

There’s nothing to earth shattering on this band’s debut, and it delivers all the current scene trends, but the band do have a tangible reference to older He Is Legend in some of their balanced metal assaults. The clean vocals are acceptable, and there is less of a poppy commercial feel like fellow North Carolina act A Hero A Fake.

With a Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, For Today) production the album is clean and heavy allowing the mix of lurching deathcore and cleaner metalcore to meld seamlessly as the band transitions between hefty breakdowns and death metal growls to uplifting, soaring clean choruses and to their credit the band does not go for the forced choopy, noodly, techy arpeggio filled stuff, rather they let the songs breathe and have some memorable hooks and moments here and there. I actually ended up rather enjoying the likes of opener “Unstoppable”, the bluesy Southern groove of “Don’t Cry to Me”, dramatic climax of “Awake in a Dream” catchy “Presence at the Funeral”, and sing along chorus and excellent (though too short) somber female vocals in the closing title track.

Not an utterly required listen but certain on par with the likes of Hereafter an Odyssey and A Thousand Times Repent as far as well-done Christian metal that’s covers all bases between heavy and melodic.