The Belonging "Setting the Scene" CD
[self-released]
Despite the fact that the band name, artwork, and unnecessary ambient intro/outro pieces would be more suggestive of a doom metal band or something that sounds like Katatonia or whatever, this UK quartet actually cranks out some competent death/thrash that's a surprising blend of a late-80's feel and sound quality with a more contemporary edge thanks to some dissonant hints of black metal and technical death metal precision. Unfortunately for the band, the end result is extremely disjointed since they'll plow through all of these influences with little or no warning anywhere within three- to seven-minute timeframes, but songwriting woes aside these guys do write some solid riffs, and most of the playing appears to be pretty tight as well. They've definitely improved since their last demo. I'm all for variety, and the tempo changes offered throughout these songs definitely help keep things moving, but... the quality of the riffs can be back and forth, and the lack of transitions really breaks up the actual feeling portrayed by the material. For example, the fast paced death/thrash in both "Black Sun Rising" and "The Shell Documentary" is damn strong, and there are some creative picking patterns and chord phrasing subtly infused to keep things interesting, but it's the melodic leads and random surges of midpaced rhythms that truly leave a mark, and these areas almost feel out of place within the larger context of these two tunes. On the other hand, "Dying in Sorrow" opens with clean guitars that lead to a sludgier chord progression that's slower and darker than most of the other material, and some of the melodic lead lines do add to a bit of a doomier disposition in this one, which remains consistent for more than six minutes and proves that at their best this band does know how to keep focused and kick out a killer song. Similarly, "Dreaming Darkness" uses a quick clean intro and some excellent lead melodies over midpaced chord progressions to create a colder and more emotional landscape; while the title track starts out the same way but then breaks into blazing black metal after a slow build that works a little better than some of the other stylistic shifts herein. Sound-wise they're doing alright, but I'm not sold on the rawness they've achieved. In some ways it works okay since the mix is basically balanced and the end result is listenable, but the whole rugged thing doesn't make a great deal of sense when it comes to the faster and more blistering death metal riffing. If nothing else I think the vocals need a little more character and ought to fall in against the guitars better, and they should work to ensure that the drums won't fight for so much space with the guitars either. For a self-released effort it actually sounds pretty good, though. The rough edges seem tactful and largely intentional, so... I can live with that. The layout's not really doing much for me though, as the band logo is uninteresting, the typefaces and bleak landscape images are typical, and no lyrics are included - just some mediocre band photos that look more like snapshots than anything. It could be worse, of course, they've done alright, it's just nothing that's really interesting to look through, you know? There's a lot of potential here, and I think the band could do some damage in the future, they're just not hitting the mark yet. Nothing that they do is inherently "bad" or anything, most all of their riffs are actually pretty good - even the faster hints at black metal and the scorching death metal tremolo picking, which is rare - but when they really keep sight of a song as a whole, their power increases exponentially, and I actually find their slower and more atmospheric work to be far more interesting. This is the band's first full-length, so that's a good place to start. Hopefully they'll hone their writing on the next one and find a way to maintain their variety of influences in a manner that keeps the individual songs sharp and effective. Not bad, it just needs a little more work. (6/10)
Running time - 38:48, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Dying in Sorrow, Dreaming Darkness]
The Belonging - http://www.thebelonging.co.uk

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