kevinAIWW
12/16/09, 08:32 AM
Despised Icon- Day of Mourning
Record Label: Century Media Records
Release date: September 22, 2009
I had really high expectations for Day of Mourning once Despised Icon had announced at a show, "Okay guys we're going to play a newer one! This one's called 'MVP'. Let's get some movement in the end." Let me tell you, I didn't stop moving. But that is beside the point. This is about an album. Not my experiences.
Day of Mourning gets off to a rough start with "Les Temps Changent", which is French for "The Times Change". The song sets a really mediocre bar compared to the Despised Icon that we're all used to. I suppose it's the new guitarist or something. But something seems a lot less strong about these guys. That or they opened the album with the worst possible song. But I started to lose interest completely until about half way through the song when they actually do play a breakdown. Then it begins to pick up the slack.
AHHH "Day of Mourning", the title track of the album. This is by far in the top two on the album, with After The Burial-esque breakdowns. I like to compare them to After The Burial on some sort of unknown and undiscovered drug. The drummer is phenominal. Yes, that is unbiased. His blastbeats obliterate human ears, and cause head phone explosions all over the earth. The minor things, like tiny splash cymbal hits, and blastbeats are what make this album as technical as it is, not to mention guitarists Ben Landreville and Eric Jarrin keeping up with something like that. Some parts of the song are almost boring, though. Some of it just sounds like noise in the first verse, but they pick up the pace after a few measures, throwing in some tremolo picking and added double bass/bell hits/blast hits. Once this happens, it begins to sound more structured along the lines as to what the genre that they are playing should sound like, and not like a radio station that you cannot pick up. Other than that, the rest of the song is pretty technical and well-written. The breakdowns (for lack of a better word) are of high intensity and tend to get people moving. They're what we in the music business call "pound breakdowns." They consist of a faster-paced, more staccato and choppy sound. It makes for a pretty heavy sound, which closes the song with a bang.
Now to "MVP". This song may tie with "Day of Mourning" in intensity level. It's pretty rough just to comprehend the song at the speed that it is played. But something I've never heard a band do: a drummer doing triplets on the bass drum in a breakdown while the guitarists are doing single screeches on the guitar along with it. It makes for a powerful and undeniably different breakdown. That's what stands out to me the most. But that's not what this song is all about. Mucho credit to the dual vocalists Alex Erian, and Steve Marois for the shrill high yells, and screams at the end of this song. The song with the longest breakdown, coming in at a whopping 1/2 of the song in length, will have any "hardcore dancer" explode in their pants. The lyrics are a little sketchy. Here's something that you would envision: Some football meathead in the studio with a band to back him up. He writes the most pissed off and generic lyrics on his hand and looks up to say, "YEAH! That's badass! Durka, let's do it!" Then with that you get, "Oh Baby don't you know this party's picking up. You'll be a classy looking ho," and the infamous, "Put this thick member in your mouth and start to blow". When the double bass kicks in during this breakdown, you get twice the intensity in vocals. Zero growls, just harsh yelling, and not the fake shit you'll find in bands such as Attack Attack!, the style where the guy sounds like he's shitting his pants and pulling a knife out of his stomach at the same time. I've had a lot to say about this song. You'll just have to listen for yourselves. Remember that song. The Most Valuable Player would be Despised Icon.
The only other song that caught my attention at all was "All for Nothing". The song is rather the same as the leading track on the album, but one of the breakdowns is pretty great. And that's exactly what I look for in a metal band: breakdowns, and technicality.
All in all, this album was alright. Solid release. They still sound like Despised Icon. They're just in a stage where they're starting to run all of their new and old things together. I think that they should strive to sound different. Because at this point it is starting to get pretty old. I'd say this would be a good buy, depending on what type of thrash metal head you are. I recommend it.
After The Burial, Dancing, Bands that act like gangters, New Job For A Cowboy, The Red Chord, Bear fights with gorrilas..you know...the goods.
Record Label: Century Media Records
Release date: September 22, 2009
I had really high expectations for Day of Mourning once Despised Icon had announced at a show, "Okay guys we're going to play a newer one! This one's called 'MVP'. Let's get some movement in the end." Let me tell you, I didn't stop moving. But that is beside the point. This is about an album. Not my experiences.
Day of Mourning gets off to a rough start with "Les Temps Changent", which is French for "The Times Change". The song sets a really mediocre bar compared to the Despised Icon that we're all used to. I suppose it's the new guitarist or something. But something seems a lot less strong about these guys. That or they opened the album with the worst possible song. But I started to lose interest completely until about half way through the song when they actually do play a breakdown. Then it begins to pick up the slack.
AHHH "Day of Mourning", the title track of the album. This is by far in the top two on the album, with After The Burial-esque breakdowns. I like to compare them to After The Burial on some sort of unknown and undiscovered drug. The drummer is phenominal. Yes, that is unbiased. His blastbeats obliterate human ears, and cause head phone explosions all over the earth. The minor things, like tiny splash cymbal hits, and blastbeats are what make this album as technical as it is, not to mention guitarists Ben Landreville and Eric Jarrin keeping up with something like that. Some parts of the song are almost boring, though. Some of it just sounds like noise in the first verse, but they pick up the pace after a few measures, throwing in some tremolo picking and added double bass/bell hits/blast hits. Once this happens, it begins to sound more structured along the lines as to what the genre that they are playing should sound like, and not like a radio station that you cannot pick up. Other than that, the rest of the song is pretty technical and well-written. The breakdowns (for lack of a better word) are of high intensity and tend to get people moving. They're what we in the music business call "pound breakdowns." They consist of a faster-paced, more staccato and choppy sound. It makes for a pretty heavy sound, which closes the song with a bang.
Now to "MVP". This song may tie with "Day of Mourning" in intensity level. It's pretty rough just to comprehend the song at the speed that it is played. But something I've never heard a band do: a drummer doing triplets on the bass drum in a breakdown while the guitarists are doing single screeches on the guitar along with it. It makes for a powerful and undeniably different breakdown. That's what stands out to me the most. But that's not what this song is all about. Mucho credit to the dual vocalists Alex Erian, and Steve Marois for the shrill high yells, and screams at the end of this song. The song with the longest breakdown, coming in at a whopping 1/2 of the song in length, will have any "hardcore dancer" explode in their pants. The lyrics are a little sketchy. Here's something that you would envision: Some football meathead in the studio with a band to back him up. He writes the most pissed off and generic lyrics on his hand and looks up to say, "YEAH! That's badass! Durka, let's do it!" Then with that you get, "Oh Baby don't you know this party's picking up. You'll be a classy looking ho," and the infamous, "Put this thick member in your mouth and start to blow". When the double bass kicks in during this breakdown, you get twice the intensity in vocals. Zero growls, just harsh yelling, and not the fake shit you'll find in bands such as Attack Attack!, the style where the guy sounds like he's shitting his pants and pulling a knife out of his stomach at the same time. I've had a lot to say about this song. You'll just have to listen for yourselves. Remember that song. The Most Valuable Player would be Despised Icon.
The only other song that caught my attention at all was "All for Nothing". The song is rather the same as the leading track on the album, but one of the breakdowns is pretty great. And that's exactly what I look for in a metal band: breakdowns, and technicality.
All in all, this album was alright. Solid release. They still sound like Despised Icon. They're just in a stage where they're starting to run all of their new and old things together. I think that they should strive to sound different. Because at this point it is starting to get pretty old. I'd say this would be a good buy, depending on what type of thrash metal head you are. I recommend it.
After The Burial, Dancing, Bands that act like gangters, New Job For A Cowboy, The Red Chord, Bear fights with gorrilas..you know...the goods.