Klatzke
12/13/08, 01:56 PM
Chasing Victory - I Call This Abandonment
Record Label: Mono Vs Stereo
Release Date: October 4, 2005
"Meet me at the shore!"
Breaking the album open wide from the start, this commanding line shines with the ferocity that is Chasing Victory's debut album, I Call This Abandonment. Most people are probably more familiar with this (late) band's sophomore attempt, Fiends, as it received overall better press and what seemed like more exposure. Fiends did showcase the band's ability to write more innovative and creative songs, but their debut shouldn't be written off as another metalcore-gone-soft attempt. The reason why is simple: it's easily one of the best attempts at this style.
From their A Not So Tragic Cover Up EP to this album, Chasing Victory changed their style rather significantly. They went from a standard post-hardcore band that used scattered screaming to a band that is borderline metalcore. Some may consider it just that, but I've always had a problem drawing the line between what is metalcore and what is just excessively heavy post-hardcore. You'll find plenty of screaming on the album, and the guitarists can make it pretty heavy at times, but just as often you'll hear clean vocals and much lighter guitar work.
Vocalist Adam Harrel once again shows off his impassioned pipes on this album. As with their EP, he's what takes the reigns and holds them tight. From the minute the album opens, he's tearing you up with his vicious screaming, and seconds later pumping you up with his impressive singing. I seriously have no idea how this man is still able to talk after hearing the completely ferocious breakdown in "The Night Your Guardian Fell Asleep." That's another thing; while they may have a number of breakdowns throughout the album, they never seem to recycle them or use stale ones. We see the greatest use of clean vocals in "The First Steps of Recovery," where Harrel leads us through a fairly poppy song as his vocals bounce across a guitar line.
The instrumentation throughout this album is fairly standard. They definitely have some interesting guitar lines, and it's all intelligently written, they just never do anything with that "wow" factor. It's not bad by any means, and it holds it's own throughout, it just never has the tenacity to claim dominance over the vocals.
Most of these tracks are fairly in-your-face. This includes almost all of my personal favorites, including the opener "Oceans Away," "The Killer Is Me," and "Suspects, Alibis, and Partners In Crime." Some of the slower tracks also have their merit though, specifically "The Real Version of You" and "Pre-Empty Nest Syndrome." There's really not a weak track on the album, although some of them do tend to blend together after awhile.
Overall, Chasing Victory released a great debut album. It may have been conforming a bit at the time, but it still stands as one of my favorite releases in this genre to date. They've put together pretty much what half of our post-hardcore/metalcore hybrids are trying to nail today and done just that. Even though this band's second album received more recognition and was overall a better album, this one definitely shouldn't be looked over.
Confide; Four Letter Lie, Before Their Eyes' Before Their Eyes -- just slightly better; Blindside's About a Burning Fire
myspace.com/chasingvictory (http://www.myspace.com/chasingvictory)
Record Label: Mono Vs Stereo
Release Date: October 4, 2005
"Meet me at the shore!"
Breaking the album open wide from the start, this commanding line shines with the ferocity that is Chasing Victory's debut album, I Call This Abandonment. Most people are probably more familiar with this (late) band's sophomore attempt, Fiends, as it received overall better press and what seemed like more exposure. Fiends did showcase the band's ability to write more innovative and creative songs, but their debut shouldn't be written off as another metalcore-gone-soft attempt. The reason why is simple: it's easily one of the best attempts at this style.
From their A Not So Tragic Cover Up EP to this album, Chasing Victory changed their style rather significantly. They went from a standard post-hardcore band that used scattered screaming to a band that is borderline metalcore. Some may consider it just that, but I've always had a problem drawing the line between what is metalcore and what is just excessively heavy post-hardcore. You'll find plenty of screaming on the album, and the guitarists can make it pretty heavy at times, but just as often you'll hear clean vocals and much lighter guitar work.
Vocalist Adam Harrel once again shows off his impassioned pipes on this album. As with their EP, he's what takes the reigns and holds them tight. From the minute the album opens, he's tearing you up with his vicious screaming, and seconds later pumping you up with his impressive singing. I seriously have no idea how this man is still able to talk after hearing the completely ferocious breakdown in "The Night Your Guardian Fell Asleep." That's another thing; while they may have a number of breakdowns throughout the album, they never seem to recycle them or use stale ones. We see the greatest use of clean vocals in "The First Steps of Recovery," where Harrel leads us through a fairly poppy song as his vocals bounce across a guitar line.
The instrumentation throughout this album is fairly standard. They definitely have some interesting guitar lines, and it's all intelligently written, they just never do anything with that "wow" factor. It's not bad by any means, and it holds it's own throughout, it just never has the tenacity to claim dominance over the vocals.
Most of these tracks are fairly in-your-face. This includes almost all of my personal favorites, including the opener "Oceans Away," "The Killer Is Me," and "Suspects, Alibis, and Partners In Crime." Some of the slower tracks also have their merit though, specifically "The Real Version of You" and "Pre-Empty Nest Syndrome." There's really not a weak track on the album, although some of them do tend to blend together after awhile.
Overall, Chasing Victory released a great debut album. It may have been conforming a bit at the time, but it still stands as one of my favorite releases in this genre to date. They've put together pretty much what half of our post-hardcore/metalcore hybrids are trying to nail today and done just that. Even though this band's second album received more recognition and was overall a better album, this one definitely shouldn't be looked over.
Confide; Four Letter Lie, Before Their Eyes' Before Their Eyes -- just slightly better; Blindside's About a Burning Fire
myspace.com/chasingvictory (http://www.myspace.com/chasingvictory)