The Betrayer's Judgement

Album Title: 
Philosopher
Release Date: 
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Distribution: 
Review Type: 

Hailing from Lille, North of France (why...that's almost Belgium...ain't it!?), and founded in 2009, The Betrayer's Judgement is a Metalcore band with a difference.

But that wasn't always so. In fact, on the band's March 2010 6-track debut demo EP The Worst Sickness, the style was very much straight-forward Metalcore, and I guess the line-up then went through a couple of changes (the band went through a new lead singer, a drummer, a bassist and two guitarists, before arriving at the current line-up comprising scream vocalist Cyril Szczepaniak, clean vocalist Jia Dabright, guitarist Flavian Dutoit, bassist Raphaël Darras, and drummer Arnaud Lefebvre), which also brought about the stylistic changes toward the band's current hybrid style, which first became evident on the band's debut full-length Run Out Of Fuel. Released in October 2011, and mastered by Peter in de Betou (known from earlier work for Bring Me The Horizon, Dimmu Borgir, and others), the album was critically acclaimed, and allowed the band to roam festivals and tour (both in France and Europe) with the likes of Caliban, The A.R.R.S, and Betraying The Martyrs. Getting back to the band's sound, it's a mixture of Metalcore with Djent...the latter being the typical high-gain, palm-muted guitar sound first played by bands like Meshuggah, Sikth and Fellsilent.

In 2013 TBJ returns with a third recording (which was already digitally released by the band in late August), this time recorded in collaboration with Ryan Kirby (of Fit For A King) and The Algorithm...the first in a guest appearance mode, the second in the capacity of remixing the EP's opening track “Broken Mirrors”...for which the band happens to have filmed a video, which is available for viewing at (www.) facebook.com/thebetrayersjudgement. You can also listen to all of the band's music at Bandcamp (link can be found on the facebook page), and additional videos can be found at (www.) last.fm/music/The+Betrayer's+Judgement. Shortly after the EP's self-release by the band, they signed a deal with Twin Peak Records which encompasses three releases, starting with this EP. Since the EP's release, a one-track single (along with a video) entitled “Legend$” was released on 31/01/2014 (see also the band's bandcamp), fulfilling the second installment of the contract. Let's hope the next one is for a full-length release!

Getting back to the band's music...well, I just love it! Sounds like an additional synth player was in on the making of it, really, and that truly makes quite a difference as compared to your run-of-the-mill Metalcore bands. According to the info sheet which we got along with the promo download of the EP, the band now deserves to stand proudly next to French innovators such as Uneven Structures, Eryn Non Dae (hum...guess I still have some discovering left to do, eh!?). Great stuff, this, and in fact I would like to add the Philosopher EP to my 2013 year-lists retroactively!

98/100