Review Summary: Sophomore slump AVERTED.
Roughly eighteen months after their debut
Wrapped In Vines, Covered In Thorns hit the shelves, metalcore quintet Villain of the Story have unleashed their sophomore release,
Ashes, to the public. Whether or not you will see this as a sophomore slump or an improvement on their formula depends entirely on which side of the band’s music you most appreciate. In other words, if you were a bigger fan of tracks like “GHC” and “A Message for Mr. Rascal” off Wrapped In Vines, you might be disappointed.
Clean vocals, personal lyricism, and an overall darker feeling encompass this release, so much more so than on its predecessor that those who skipped tracks like “This Apocalypse” or “Powerless” are likely to be turned off by this record almost entirely. Musically, it’s roughly as technical as the album before it, but the increase in the emotional drive is the biggest improvement you’re likely to see here. Otherwise, stick to their debut. Unfortunately, screamer Christian Grey has not spread his clean vocal wings yet on more than a couple tracks - second verse in Lying to Myself and Peace of Mind - on this record. I hoped to see some more evolution in that regard, but I don’t blame them one bit if they don’t think they’re ready to do that. Maybe on the next album?
The themes of this record are more sparse than on its predecessor, but far more emotionally intense. Where you’d have lines like
“I feel so sorry for you / grown men acting like you're children / starting *** for no good reason” on Wrapped In Vines, lines like
“I'd give it all away / I would give anything / For another day / Another day with you” encompass this record. One may critique the writing style, marking juvenility as a negative point - however, on
Ashes, emotional writing from the perspective of a young act like them is undoubtedly one of their strengths.
While Villain of the Story has not yet broken out of the hero-worship stage of their career and crafted their own, completely distinct style yet - many metalcore bands never fully develop their own identity, so this is not irregular in the scene - they have managed to bring forth a record that is more emotionally gripping, more melodic, more dynamic, and in some respects, as a result of spacing the heavier moments out, more
powerful than
Wrapped In Vines, Covered In Thorns.
