Forever I Burn "The Tragedy Dialogs" CD
[self-released]
This is some pretty damn diverse metalcore with equal parts intense melody, chugging rhythms, and scathing dissonance, to mention but a few facets. There's also relentless screaming vocals, grinding blasts and flat out metal riffs, dual guitar harmonies, a scarce few melodic Swedish death metal runs, etc. But I think these guys have much better writing than most of these bands because they keep things moving with an ample amount of changes that transition well without feeling cluttered, and there are a lot of pretty powerful riffs, plus, while somewhat Converge-esque, the vocals aren't really irritating at all. Hell, "Embers and Intervention" even busts out some straightforward heavy hardcore chord progressions and some gruff singing vocals!? At the end of the disc there are two weird remix tracks with some programmed drums, but they're pretty crappy. I would've left those off, but whatever... at least they're at the end of the disc and not technically considered an actual part of the EP. The recording is the main thing that's holding this back. The drums are really flimsy, they just don't sound right, and there's an unbalanced mix between different drums and cymbals. The dirty guitar tone is just a few steps away from being dead on, it just needs a harnessed distortion to add more crunch and counter the searing screaming. The bass is there adding density, but needs definition, so... a little tweaking there could make the difference. The layout looks cool. It's all set up like an evidence file or whatever, so things have a different sort of look, somewhat like a collage, but not technically... and it works pretty well. The lyrics all deal with personal content and tend to be bitter, but often bear a glimmer of hope or perseverance. "It's hard to get past the fact that things like effort mean so little anymore. This isn't what I was raised to know. These compromises will kill us all. Never give in. Be proud of yourself and know that ambition is not a bad thing. Don't let the cynics break down your goals. They're simply empty and they'll die alone..." I like this. I think they should toss the melodic Swedish influences, as rare as they may be, because that shit's just too damn stale and they've got a lot of more interesting shit going on here... but a better recording is crucial to their success. So hopefully next time out the recording will benefit their songwriting more. I'll have my eyes peeled. (6/10)
Running time - 30:26, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Embers and Intervention, Impostor]
Forever I Burn - http://www.foreveriburn.com

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