| CD REVIEW This Or The Apocalypse |
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Band : This Or The Apocalypse Taking their musical lead from musicwize likeminded and renowned regional Metalcore heroes as A Life Once Lost, This Day Forward, August Burns Red, and Florida's Shai Hulud, Lancaster (Pennsylvania) based This Or The Apocalypse formed in late 2004, but with the definite intent to up the ante even more when it comes to technical play! The quintet (current line-up consisting of singer Rick Armellino, guitarists Jack Ebenshade and Rodney Phillips (the latter replacing Jacob, whom still is with the band but now in a capacity of art provider and tour supporter, last year), bassist Sean Hennessey (the latest line-up change, joining in April of this year) and drummer Grant McFarland) self-released a full-length album's worth of maerial with their 2006 album Sentinels, which evidently became a calling card to start gigging outside their own state. In early 2007 the band announces through their MySpace page that they've started work on new songs for an upcoming album which gets the working title of Achilles (called that way because the album's lyrics would be themed around the idea of the doomed hero or, as stated by Rick, "...just like the album's title character I'm gonna assume my own mortality and find a way to get everything I need said out of the way before the album's conclusion. It's gonna be as honest and bare as I can make it; I already expect a few of those close to me to raise some eyebrows..."). After frequently been asked about the progress of the songwriting, the band made an announcement in mid July of last year that 14 songs had been written and recorded in demo format. Later in October, the band announced the release of an EP titled Monuments with old demos and odds/ends from 2006-2007, to be released online as a free download the month after, as part of a celebration of the guys' past three years as a band. At the same time a report came through that one was to "...expect more melody, more heaviness, more interesting time signature, and most importantly, more character..." with the material for the Achilles album. I'd almost forget to mention that during all that time the band was touring their asses off, playing two one-month (and DIY) tours in the Summer, and playing every show on the side they could get their hands on! In April the band proudly made mention of several participations from Rick to other people's upcoming recorded material (Rick can be heard on one track of Century's Prosthetic released album Black Ocean, on 3 songs of Shai Hulud's Metal Blade released Misanthrope Pure album, on one song of Circus! Circus!'s CI Records released album Brooklyn Nightlife, and on one song of A Song An Epiphamy's self-released EP The Absence), and at the same time they could announce that the band was signed to Lifeforce for the release of their, now re-titled to Monuments, upcoming album! People buying the Lifeforce Label Sampler 2008 compilation (issued in June of last) were already able to check out one song off the upcoming album with the featured TOTA track "Mauna Kea", but that was only a small introduction when compared to the full-length offering.Already released on September 16 in the US, the 11-track album shows a band which goes beyond its influences and moves from the mere Metalcore area into the realm of MathCore. Lifeforce promotes things as follows: "...walking tightrop between masterfully crafted time signatures, dense Rock grooves and melodic atmosphere while having brutal breakdowns intertwining themselves with insanely intricate riffing, beautifully crafted musicianship and thought provoking lyrical content...", a fitting description I certainly can live with! With pounding (trigger-aided, certainly) but syncopated drums as a foundation, and the overall relentlessly brutal music (a small exception is the wonderful albeit-Ambient instrumental "Memento Mori" with its raw intelligible whispered vocals and additional cello...and the wonderfully sedate outro at the end of album closer "Elegiac" – again acoustic guitar and cello), played at a relatively high pace, I fear that TOTA's music is something for the more advanced music listeners, and certainly not for those among us who prefer their music more straight-forward (or simple)! As a matter of fact, even music journalists are not quite un-divided about the worth of the addition of this TOTA album to their collection. There's even MetalCore fans among 'em who claim they feel some of the songs feel unfinished, could've been worked out a little more, occasionally come over soulless. Personally, I'm on the positive side of the guys! Until now, I haven't had the need yet to look out for recognizable overall melodies in the songs, preferring to let my mind float on the fast-paced intertwinging technicallity of the whole. If you're not into ultra-violently scream-shouted kinda vocals...the kind of which is almost certain to get the singer larynx and throat damage when sustained for too long a period...maybe you shouldn't even bother to check out the four songs posted at myspace.com (don't bother looking for more stuff anywhere else...I did, and found nothing...in fact, there IS some more music in the blogs the band put up with footage from their recent US tour during September). I'm not sure what the band are up to gig-wize for the nea future. Dates posted are few and far between for the rest of the year, and it remains to be seen whether the band's DIY ethics will get them out of the US soon for a tour our side of the Atlantic Ocean. 98/100 Tony. |