Into the Moat "The Design" CD
[Metal Blade]
Talk about a silly band name, eh? I wasn't expecting frantic metalcore, but that's what it is. They write slightly better songs than some bands of this nature, but there are still a ton of changes between flurries of note-based runs, dissonant guitar textures, churning staccato rhythms and chunky breakdowns, etc. They also throw in some jazzy clean passages, which I do like, and that's a trend I haven't experienced in awhile, so it's kind of nice to hear it back in action, but... as usual, apart from a handful of killer riffs I'm just not into this stuff. The snarled vocal screams are pretty damn cool, but the songwriting just doesn't grab me. They're fairly tight players and throw down a bit more technicality than a lot of other second-rate bands of this nature, but it's still second-rate material you know? I mean, most of these songs are a very tasteful three minutes or so, but they're still jumbled and boring, so every time they stumble upon a slick riff they'll be off somewhere less interesting within a few seconds. "Guardian" has some bright dissonance and the quick shifts between alternate picking progressive death metal riffs and power chords are cool, but all that noodly lead shit that sounds like bland scales kind of kills the atmosphere, as does the borig tremolo picking. "Fortitudine" has some energetic runs and cool rhythm playing but is just as littered with obnoxious flurries of lead runs and pull-offs and pinch harmonics, etc. 7+ minute closer "Prologue..." opens with a nice clean passage that returns to that unexpected jazziness, keeping the tempos pretty restrained throughout, so even though it's excessively long, it's the most consistent and streamlined of any of the structures, so it's one of the best songs as a result. The synths that come in just prior to the five-minute mark kind of kill it, but... that's the closing passage of the disc, so fuck it, I can ignore that. Other than that, instrumental opener "Century II" is the only other song I like, as it too is a consistent piece that bludgeons the listener with midpaced mosh for about two minutes. So... the record's sandwiched between solid efforts, but the guts are a little stale. If nothing else they do have good production quality. The mix is crisp and clear, the bass tone is nice and defined to pop out alongside the guitars, the distortion is crunchy and dense so it's good for both the caustic riffing and the rhythmic chugga stuff, the percussion works nicely, and so on. I have very few complaints about the recording and none are worth bringing up since it does sound pretty damn nice. I can think of a slew of similar bands who would benefit greatly from a recording as efficient as this one. The layout's not bad but doesn't do much for me. The cover is basically a somewhat uninteresting logo, all of the panels look the same, some of the text is hard as hell to read, etc. The lyrics aren't half bad, though. There seem to be recurring themes of several forms of violence and aggression, be it vengeance or otherwise, but there are definitely some cool lines and I like how they handle that aspect of the work. "He that brings me challenges shall fail, Practice deception and think of evil, But my sword cuts deep, Leave this place where moths and rust destroy, And remove yourself from my way." I don't know, there's nothing outstanding about the lyrics, but they seem different from the norm and I like certain phrases here and there. I feel bad giving this a 5/10 since the recording is damn good and some of the riffs crush, but the songs are so damn boring I'm just not interested in this material at all. Were they to hone in on their strengths and write more focused songs they could drop some intense shit, but... I just can't get into the vast majority of this stuff. (5/10)
Running time - 32:54, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Century II, Prologue...]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com

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