Review Summary: Haste The Day's new album is good, solid metalcore. Nothing more, nothing less.
First thing you should know is that I'm new to Haste The Day, this is the first album i've heard from them. So if your looking for a long time fan's review, look elsewhere. It's not that I've never heard of them, I just never took the effort to check them out. Since I'm a fan of metalcore bands like 'As i lay dying', 'August Burns Red' and 'Underoath', I thought it's time to give them a listen. During the last few months i've been a bit distant from metalcore, spending most of my time listening to 'Thrice' and 'Brand new'. So when I first listened to 'Attack Of The Wolf King' it was kind of a 'relapse' for me. A really good one I should add.
This album really surprised me, I never though it would be this good(I've heard a lot of negatives about HTD). This reminded me a bit of ABR, but a more melodic version. They incorporate melodic singing into their music unlike ABR. Onto the album then :
The opening track "Wake Up The Sun" starts of with a killer riff, showing a real sense of purpose from the new guitarists. Throughout the album there's some really good riffs, nothing overly technical, just solid metal riffs. Stephen Keech is a good screamer, it's not that kind of irritating scream you would hear from 'The Devil Wears Prada' or 'Alesana'. The chorus features clean vocals(like most of the songs) by the bassist Michael Murphy, which I found really good, some people may find it whiney though. Moving on to track four, "Travesty", one of the highlights of the album. Again there's a interesting opening riff, followed by Keech screaming:"YOU COVER ME!!". The chorus is another highlight, with some very meaningful lyrics. If your a Christian you can relate to most of the album's lyrics. Moving on to the slower song on the album, "White As Snow", while different, it's another one of the highlights featuring heartfelt vocals and once again well written lyrics. Also there's a great guitar part near the end of the song.
If there's some criticism that metalcore bands often get, it's the excessive number of breakdowns on a album or in a song. This album does feature some breakdowns(On "The Quiet, Deadly Ticking" and "The Un-Manifest"), but not too much that it will get on your nerves or something like that. So with three new members on board, Haste The Day delivers an album that will make you feel like they've been playing together for years. Surely one of the best metalcore albums you'll hear this year.
Recommended Tracks: "Travesty", "Merit For Sadness", "White As Snow"
