Review Summary: An impressively strong debut for and impressively promising and young metalcore act.
By now it is far from a secret that the metalcore genre is oversaturated with gimmicks. Obnoxious synth lines plague verses and mediocre singers who compensate by using a ton of vibrato. Each new release sounds like a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of
Define the Great Line. It's a bad game of telephone, while the metalcore sound might have been a brilliant product to start, it has been passed on to an innumerable amount of bands and the end product is so distorted and, quite frankly wretched.
But Structures won't stand for any of that. They're pretty pissed about it actually. And while they don't stray from the formula completely on
Divided By, they throw so much honest agression, strong and promising technicality into the metalcore mix that they easily stand miles apart from their counterparts. And did I mention that they are only 19 and 20 years old?
The first track, "At LasT" broods in around a minute of dark ambience and builds up into a breakdown. I was actually quite dissapointed at the genericism upon my first listen, but shortly I was introduced to what Structures really have to offer, with an intense few minutes of straight forward agressive and technical riffs, oddly timed rhythms and growls that hit me like a ton of bricks.
Speaking of vocals, Structures proves extremely versatile when it comes to both screaming and singing. Nick Xourafas provides low and impactful growls that powerfully soar over the music, and is backed by guitarist Brendon Padjasek with higher screams and also clean singing.
Spencer's singing actually allows for the band to dabble here and there in a little bit of a pop-punk feel. On tracks like "Paralyzed", "I.N.T.E.N.T.", and the album's closer, "/", the band will quickly jump into a pop-punk flavored chorus, yet maintaining the same level of technicality, which is something I've honestly never heard before within the genre. It's a move that could have been comepletey awkward and out of place and yet Structures really make it work here.
There are two songs on
Divided By that are rerecorded from their EP,
All of the Above. Aside from better production value and tighter guitar work, not much has changed, but the songs fit quite nicely within the atmosphere of the album.
The closing track on the record, "/", is completely different from the rest of the album. It brings down the agression and the technicality quite a bit, in favor of an anthemic chorus, almost like a victory hymn. Spencer's singing shines the brightest here, until he drops us off into a heavy albeit uplifting verse on the guitars. This song feels like the theme song for a championship winning team, like Structures is basking in the achievement they have created with
Divided By. And at only 19 and 20 years old, this kind of strength undoubtedly prefaces a bright future for the band.
