Friday, May 8, 2009

War From A Harlots Mouth - In Shoals

"Berlin Philharmonic sold separately"

I love Berlin metallic experimentalists, The Ocean Collective. Using a great mash of extremities and classics and with their recent multi-concept Precambrian it was just awesome to hear the vocalists of different industries playing through the universe of chaos and elegance including long time member Nico Webers. Interesting enough, he joined the group War From A Harlots Mouth who has a similar sense of music objectives like The Ocean. WFAHM's debut record Transmetropolitan had a filling of jazz, grind, death, and a smarter take on metalcore out of all the Botch-copycats. Although different it lacked any proper strengths to make it enjoyable. After the leaving of original vocalist Steffan and the experienced aging with Nico; it's easy to expect to know that their new album with their latest vocalist is the audible feeling of a revitalized killbot in Futurama.

I can simply say it lacks any of the pretentious inconsistant ideas that were present in Transmetropolitan; it's the opposite. While that album had noisy arppeggios dominated by the overtly annoying deathcore breakdowns with the "quiet" stuff just there, In Shoals actually has attractive riffing that is less technical but properly placed. It has riffs and layered sections for everyone including the fans of The Ocean and Intronaut (which probably had the strongest interest in guitar patterns). Although In Shoals still has breakdowns it's not something that gives the notion is too long for it's own good as the drums is a character of its own instead of just a mere follower of the simple one at a time fashion. Paule can hit and try different signatures without any resistance and that's a relief for people who expected Transmetropolitan.

Instrumentally it's consistent and catchy but as Nico steps up to the mic it's a powerhouse of screaming, discordance, and progginess especially in "That Certain Nothing". He avoids the monotony of other deathcore bands but knows how to deliver; but we gotta have some gang vocals along the way (which humerously works in "Copyriot")!

I almost didn't like this album as I started but as it grows, it grows pretty well and probably the most original and best technical deathcore album of the year and that's not a bad thing!

8/10

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