Veil of Maya
The Common Man's Collapse


2.5
average

Review

by Tyler EMERITUS
May 17th, 2008 | 503 replies


Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Deathsnore

Many would ask if there’s anything more predictable in the metal world than deathcore. The obvious answer is no. Concerning Veil of Maya things get a little more complicated. Just days after their latest album leaked, pundits around the interworldwideweb were hailing them to be the saviours of deathcore. I suppose the bigger question is whether deathcore is worth saving. Once again, the obvious answer is no, and there’s no greater supporting argument to this than genre’s supported saviours. The Common Man's Collapse is the band’s second full length, and it’s about as calculated as you can get. This is not a compliment.

To say Veil of Maya is contrived would be a gross understatement; you could argue that the name isn’t lifted from the famed Cynic song, but I refuse to believe this bro-tastic foursome are particularly enamoured by the wondrous world of transcendentalism. No, it’s more than obvious that the band is cashing in on familiarity, something they execute to a tee throughout their chug-plagued sophomoric full-length.

It’s hard, if a little redundant, to go over each song on an album so clearly referential. “Pillars” introduces listeners to the band’s shameless musical paraphrasing with its blatant Meshuggah copy-catting, something that carries throughout the album and is once again shoved in our face with the woefully unnecessary interlude “Wounds”. Of course it’d be immature to imagine Meshuggah-chug as the dominant force on a deathcore album, and the constantly tepid guitar-runs and flashes of the “Gothenburg” sound remind us of this. Structurally speaking, this is deathcore by numbers, and its music, not math, we’re concerned with.

Veil of Maya isn’t re-inventing the wheel and I seriously doubt that’s the point anyways, but on an album so blatantly unoriginal execution becomes the focus and the fact remains that the majority of The Common Man’s Collapse just isn’t well executed. While it’s obvious that The Common Man’s Collapse is geared for a live audience, that doesn’t excuse the fact that nearly every song on the album feels half-finished. It’s as if they wrote a bunch of minute and a half songs and decided that was enough to get the juices flowing for two minutes of incessant chugging. “Sever the Voices” may spread the chugging and breakdowns around its post-hardcore bordering bridges, but the issue still remains. Worse is “We Bow in its Aura”, a track that threatens to be excellent with its arsenal of abrupt and unique leads but ends up succumbing to mindless chugging about a minute and a half in.

Vocally, The Common Man's Collapse is mostly limited to a monotonous low growl that’s uninteresting enough for it to be familiar but not good enough to make you care. Occasional high screams are thrown in more to appease a formula than serve a beneficial purpose to the music. There’s also one instance of a burp-like growl that sounds as if the vocalist is suffering from lock-jaw and a hole in the throat. It’s more hilarious than it is menacing. The guitar work is proficiently uninteresting with a contrived variety of runs, chugs and dissonant-shuggaisms. Bass is of course mostly inaudible and the drummer, seemingly the most naturally talented member of the band, holds back pretty much the entire time.

While I won’t say The Common Man’s Collapse is without its strengths, saying that this album is a chore to listen to from start to finish is a gross understatement considering there isn’t a single song that’s good enough to sit through in its entirety. At best, you’re left with a 33 minute album full of half-finished songs. Breakdowns are thrown in multiple times a track as necessities and do more harm than good, making a potentially enjoyable album a forgettable mess. The Common Man's Collapse is an inexperienced band going through the motions before their 15 minutes are up. If these guys are the saviours of deathcore, I’m guessing it’s a lost-cause.



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user ratings (1072)
3.6
great
other reviews of this album
Kascade (4)
pretty decent metal, nothing to sneeze at....

AbyssalCreation (3.5)
A breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant genre of brees and breakdowns....



Comments:Add a Comment 
ohcleverhansyou
April 8th 2008


885 Comments


This sounds far worse than a 2, but it was a very enjoyable read.

Wizard
April 8th 2008


20564 Comments

Album Rating: 1.5

Nice review. Sounds awful but I will check this out for shits and giggles. Deathcore sounds like its turning into the new nu-metal these days, everybody despises it!

Tyler
Emeritus
April 8th 2008


7927 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

It is a little worse than a 2 but there's some stuff leading me to believe there's enjoyment to be had depending on who's listening. Check out "We Bow In Its Aura" on MySpace, it's one of the better ones on here. The chugging is at least complimented by some synths at one point, not that it makes it any less tedious. This Message Edited On 04.08.08

gasmaskman
April 8th 2008


1006 Comments


Sounds like a 1.
I agree on the terribleness.

Wizard
April 8th 2008


20564 Comments

Album Rating: 1.5

Hahahah didn't Winds of Plague already try something around those lines? Adding synths and piano to their chug-alug retarded breakdowns?

Tyler
Emeritus
April 8th 2008


7927 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Nah, Winds of Plague is far gimmickier, they try to make "symphonic deathcore". This is just a little synth line. Also, another reason why I gave it a 2 rather than a 1 or even a 1.5 is because I initially thought this was a 3. It just gets worse with every listen.

ikillyou9times
April 8th 2008


117 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

wow way to way over-state the weaknesses of the album and leave the strengths grossly undervalued. While originality in music is almost always a must have, sometimes bands come along that dont exactly sound brand new, or even different at all, but they create damn good music. The guitars are fun to listen to, the drummer fits well with the music and is pretty damn good, and the breakdowns(although i do agree that they can seem somewhat "mindless") are not a chore to listen to. While the breakdowns should have taken a step in BOO's direction, they are rather intense and aren't the most impacting, but are pretty damn good.



This band is not nearly as bad as this review makes it out to be. It would help if the reviewer weren't sooooooo obviously anti-deathcore or whatever. ill be reviewing this with a much more objective approach in the future

Metalikane
April 8th 2008


851 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

I don't agree completely with your rating, but this was a disappointment. Their previous album was better.

Tyler
Emeritus
April 8th 2008


7927 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

I'm not anti-deathcore, I'm anti-boring music that feels half-assed and doesn't go anywhere. The breakdowns aren't horrible but they're way too long and there's way too many of them and almost none of them fit the songs. If there weren't so many two minute breakdowns, the rating would be higher. It's not a matter of them being unoriginal, it's a matter of them being subpar songwriters. Total objectivity is absolute bullshit and your comment proves it. I liked this at first, don't like it now.This Message Edited On 04.08.08

ikillyou9times
April 8th 2008


117 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

oh and fyi i actually am not a fan of deathcore

ohcleverhansyou
April 8th 2008


885 Comments


Originality is not at all a must have if you want to be big rock and roll band.

ikillyou9times
April 8th 2008


117 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i agree there is tooo many breakdowns.

i almost wish they would have taken BOO's approach, cut the crap and made a 20 min cd.

that prolly would have boosted your rating, as it would eliminate the persistant breakdown problem. but im a fan of breakdowns so i guess thats why i dont mind this nearly as much.

ikillyou9times
April 8th 2008


117 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

and i wasnt saying i would be totally objective, i was saying i would take a much more objective approach to reviewing the album and go into more detail. but believe what you must.

Tyler
Emeritus
April 8th 2008


7927 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

How didn't I take an objective approach? Do you even now the approach I took? Sorry but I don't appreciate the implication. You like it more than I do, fucking get over it. I liked it, but within one week and a handful of listens this quickly dropped from a possible 3.5 to just below a 2.5. Stop implying that I have some palpable bias just because you disagree with my rating, fuck.

ikillyou9times
April 8th 2008


117 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

ill go listen to this more, maybe with repeated run throughs ill be able to understand where you are coming from

ikillyou9times
April 8th 2008


117 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

and i like how you get pissed so easily.

it brings me great humor.

Tyler
Emeritus
April 8th 2008


7927 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Deathcore is a movement to me, not a subgenre. I said genre stupidly in a quick edit I did so I'll fix that hough.

Pebster49
April 8th 2008


3026 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Their older album was not as boring...I pretty much agree with this review

HighandDriving
April 8th 2008


3288 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I was actually looking forward to this album but it's a bit too bland.

DWittisarockstar
April 8th 2008


1501 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

This was massively overhyped. I haven't listened enough to rate it yet.



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