Review Summary: An ill-conceived defence of the moderately mundane (or: why riffs are fun)
When the musical flavour of the week can often feel like an iteration upon an iteration of a style/genre/trend that used to be
in but is now unequivocally
out - hurriedly strapped together in pursuit of something genuinely
new, but invariably
genuinely not - it's satisfying to stumble upon those releases that refuse to innovate solely for the sake of innovation, but instead nail the
basics of the original impetus of their sound.
Conquering does just
that, and it’s pretty
awesome.
Big
fuck-off chunky-boi riffs cascade into one another with a pleasing degree of intent, as the UK quintet pull off yet another exercise in controlled demolition on their 4th LP. The thrashy-metalcore
gooey centre of Employed to Serve's
metal-as-fuck (yet distinctly
-core) sound is solidified on
Conquering with a newfound attention to rhythm and momentum, lending their latest outing a playful air of accessibility. Songs snap sharply between downtuned hardcore chugging (“We Don’t Need You”), heavy metal theatrics (“Stand Alone”) and good old metalcore malarkey (“Twist the Blade”) with an admirable toetapping thread running through each meticulously-constructed track. No longer is the
earworm the missing arrow from Employed to Serve’s quiver, songs carving themselves into one’s noggin from the first listen, notwithstanding the multifaceted songwriting and riff-smithing on display.
Pepperings of industrial and nu-metal-revivalism join the pit on “World Ender” and “Sun Up To Sun Down”, Justine screaming as if in a shouting match with
God as Sammy mashes out one clanging, kinetic riff after another. Other cuts look backwards, paying homage to metal’s more classic incarnations by embracing rather than eschewing the flamboyant technicality and relative rigidity of their roots: see the
cheeky blast beats smattering “The Mistake” or the
casual whammy bar solo on “Universal Chokehold”, executed with just a touch of hXc aggression and guided by modern metalcore's perchant for brevity. It all culminates in a blistering tour de force of everything that makes metal
metal, which - whilst entirely un-innovative and, to an extent, uninteresting - is the most honest-to-God
fun I’ve had with metalcore so far this year.
Because being boring is underrated.
Conquering does nothing genuinely
new, and that’s
genuinely okay. The basics are
the basics for a reason and, as Employed to Serve demonstrate, executing them with passion and precision is sometimes all that you need.
