Review Summary: While they haven’t tried to expand their borders musically, Till the End is a fantastic record by LA natives, Phinehas
Ever since their debut LP, thegodmachine, was released in the middle of summer 2011, Phinehas has been one of the more promising hardcore metal bands to emerge onto the scene. With their third effort, Till the End, Phinehas continues to demonstrate strong song writing skills backed by musical talent.
Known for their aggressively guitar-driven track, Phinehas’ new guitarist, Daniel Gailey, stepped up to plate on this release. Gailey does a shredtastic job especially on Tetelestai and Truth be Told. Vocally, this is Sean McCulloch’s greatest performance to date. His harsh and clean vocals fit excellently into every tune, particularly on Forever West and Seven, which shows that McCulloch knows how to match his voice with the tone and feeling of the track. Lee Humerian and Bryce Kelley do a spectacular job of keeping the beat and rhythm throughout the record. Humerian especially exhibits his skill on drums. Often claiming that the guitars and vocals are what stand out most, Humerian – however – displays remarkable flair behind the kit notably on Dead Choir and the title track.
Phinehas, like other great metalcore acts, create layers of guitar patterns that many bands today don’t often do. This technique gives each song a sense of depth and great sound quality. This album is also full of sections that incorporate technical melodies into relatively simple rhythms that would otherwise leave the song flat and monotone. While these methods are not new, they are executed tremendously all over the record especially on White Livered and Truth be Told, which are perhaps the best tracks on the album.
Even though this record has plenty more good qualities than bad ones, there are still some things wrong with. While Phinehas creates great songs, they are not noticeably written differently from previous albums. I can often tell that song patterns and structure are closely related within the album or to previous releases. It definitely doesn’t ruin the album, but it just means that Phinehas hasn’t expanded their boundaries or tried anything new.
While they haven’t tried to expand their borders musically, Till the End is a fantastic record by LA natives, Phinehas. Considering that Phinehas signed to Artery Recordings this year, this album is a solid debut on their new label.
