Review: Malefactor “A Collection of Broken Dreams From the Common Man” CD

13 tracks of metalcore that draws from the more aggressive side of both the 90's and the contemporary styles of the genre. Expect a mix of growling and screaming vocals, lots of tremolo picking riffs (but thankfully nothing in the overly generic Swedish vein), midpaced chunkiness, sludgy dissonance, and then some. A lot of the riffing seems to be influenced by midpaced to moderately fast death metal with faint hints of grind, but the chunky rhythms are prominent enough to bring in the "metalcore" tag early on and make it stick around for the long haul. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's possible that these guys would be better off as a straight metal band. "Before I Die" opens up with more of an energetic thrash vibe, and that's a lot more immediately memorable than most of what's going on here, but the weird stoner rock type of run that comes in out of nowhere from time to time totally kills the vibe. Opening much slower and more ominously, "A Time of Reason" has a few moments of truly glowing potential, but the writing is again not linear enough to maintain a focus on that forcefulness. "Wither" has more of a straight metal thrashiness to it and is also mildly interesting (the vocal variety is awesome and that yelling delivery should be used throughout if you ask me), but a big chunk of the track sounds like it was lifted from Lamb of God almost note for note. Oddly enough, the non-Lamb of God moments sound exactly like that old metalcore band Ascension out of Ohio, and if these guys went that route all the time I seriously think they'd kick ass. The clean break and spoken vocals aren't half bad either, but that sneering yell and those changeups with the straight power chords are fuckin' great. The clean intros in "The Last Day of Sadness" and "Into the Ashes" aren't half bad either, but the songs don't hold much weight beyond that. "Facefull of Aggression" is also thrashier and actually makes for a decent song, but it doesn't really fit in with a lot of the other stuff, so... there are some inconsistencies. The biggest setback, though? The recording, of course. I know budgets and such play a critical role in that, but I have to point it out for what it is. The guitar tone is probably the biggest culprit, as it's too thin and crispy to do any significant damage. The drums are a little flimsy and the bass is also kind of plunky with midrange, all of which allows the vocals a little too much space at the front of the mix, but the guitar tone is still the largest issue. Even the most massive breakdown or energetic thrashy riff will come off as pretty weak without a dense and forceful guitar tone to deliver it. The layout has potential but isn't quite there, so it looks presentable and I can get a feel for what they were going for, but it's still too rough. The cover has some awesome abstract textures and I do like the color scheme, but the band logo uses a really generic font and some of the imagery is too blurred or rugged, while much of the type is a little plain and the arrangements can be jumbled. The lyrics aren't included, just credits and a few very succinct lines from the songs that don't offer that much insight. So, in the end this is basically a mediocre release. The band is competent and I can appreciate the effort they're putting forth, but they need to keep working at it. Seriously, some of those moments in "Wither" are dead on... get a better recording in line and work on expanding some of that stuff and you could have something.