Sophomore album is solid but unoriginal
Despite having begun their musical careers as a fairly stereotypical metalcore band named The Remnant, Becoming the Archetype have taken quite large steps away from this genre ever since. Debut album Terminate Damnation saw them incorporating death metal into their music as well as a sprinkling prog elements. Since then Becoming the Archetype lost two of their three guitarists, replacing them with fretboard wizard Alex Kenis of the technical death metal band Aletheian. These line-up changes had little effect on the band's music direction as they continue to move away from their metalcore beginnings on The Physics of Fire.
This change is most noticeable in two primary areas: the production and the lack of of breakdowns. The Physics of Fire has a much less bass heavy sound than its predecessor, which is disappointing as it makes the riffs less neck-snappingly heavy and Jason Wisdom's bass guitar goes basically unheard. On the plus side of the albums lighter overall sound is the lack of cheesy breakdowns, which instead are replaced by off-beat, stop-start sections that remind me of those on Opeth's Ghost Reveries, more soaring guitar solos, and more beautiful "soft" sections with great keyboard playing by Seth Hecox.
Speaking of Opeth, The Physics of Fire also shows the influence those Swedes have had on Becoming the Archetype's sound. Clean vocals that resemble Mikael Akerfeldt's make their appearance throughout the album and the riffs, solos, keyboards, and arrangements all have an Opeth-esque impression on them. This far from makes Becoming the Archetype's redundant or pointless; they escape the pitfalls of predictability and overlong 10+ minute songs that Opeth occasionally fall into. I'd definitely recommend The Physics of Fire to any fans of the artsy side of death metal or metalcore.
PS. the band do have a Christian inspiration to their music, but its only really in the forefront in or two sections of the lyrics and doesn't really matter that much. Just thought I'd mention it.
| Reviewer: Jeff Mcquiggan Added: June 25th 2007 |
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