Review Summary: Most br00tal and rawwrest record ever made by Spineshank.
Now, you might think why I used this as a quote. Well, it's simply to say (and hear) that Spineshank tried to fit in with the mainstream band wagon of metal by making a bland Metalcore album with tiny (or shall I say minimum) amounts of keyboards. Now, we have seen other bands do this recently but the most notable album Sempiternal by Metalcore Bring Me The Horizon.
Now I am not going to degrade this album to that point, the album was decent but it falls flat on a lot of points. Pretty bland lyrics, instrumental parts (with some exceptions here and there which I will mention later), brankdowns at strange moments but then the hoarse vocals of Santos don't help a lot either.
Now to be honest, I indeed had high expectations for this one. Which was totally reasonable seeing how long the recording process took and hearing the greatly sounding samples in the studio blogs.
Along the way something must have gone wrong, at this point I am thinking it was either a poor mix or a mastering engineer that just discovered the low cut function, because this is what really drag the songs down.
Now moving on to a track by track review of Spineshank's Anger Denial Acceptance.
1. After The End. 2.5/5
“Rwaaaaaawwwrrr” Yes, the start of the song and the mainly used word by the ones attracted to this genre. Now I can say this is not a bad song, infact it's quite good. But a breakdown at 1:20 is foreign to me, but thinking they used this as a bridge it's a decent transition. A small verse will come and then the chorus again. Nothing special, it's nice to see that they tried to use a different song structure here though.
2. Nothing Left For Me 1.5/5
A bassline that's almost the same as the guitar part, plain tom slamming drums, hoarse vocals, yes th it's pretty bland still but it least it stands out on some points I guess. Can't really say much about it, check it out if you like one of the many nowadays metal bands. Pretty representative for the album, good choice by the label.
3. Anger Denial Acceptance 3.5/5
Now, here ladies and gentlemen we can hear something of the old Spineshank again. This song shows pretty much some originality, it even has a solo. Also you can clearly hear the phases between Anger, Denial and Acceptance. But the only thing that bothers me here and there is the over use of the word “***”. For example “It's in the way we ***, It's in the way you make me need, It's in the way you cry, To get just what you ***ing need “ the spoken part and the (can I say pretty awesome?) ending. The only critique is the overuse of the F word, besides that, good track.
Now we arrived at the good part of the album
4. I Want You To Know 4/5
Oh yes, good track this is, the lyrics are pretty nice for this genre. It's a song that has replay value, it has lyrics that people can relate to, it has a lot really. What really made me like this song is Jonny's singing. It really stands out on this track, while it sounds pretty hoarse in the others. Also the drums really gave it the vibe it needed. I recommend this song to anyone that wants to check this album out.
5. Murder Suicide 4/5
The first track Spineshank premiered, this song starts with a intro similar to After The End but ends out to be a lot better. This song really keeps the tempo in every way possible. No silly breakdowns in this one, just plain smash and bash, nice tom slamming drums, lyrics are not that bad either. Even when the spoken part starts I can't seem to notice that this song loses any of it's energy. We can also hear Jonny's furious screaming again. Great song.
6. The Endless Disconnect 2/5
Bass high in the mix, tom slamming drums = Typical Anger Denial Acceptance song. Now, this song starts off really good, but I feel that the parts between every verse/chorus/bridge is just copied and pasted in Pro Tools. This bothers me a lot because this is a song with potential.
7. I Am Damage 4.5/5
Holy ***, did Spineshank make a hardcore song? Yes. This is a great hardcore song, I finally recognize the aspects that made me like Spineshank in the first place again. Nice screaming, fast tempo instrumental parts and a solo, which is just like in the title track it's not too long.
8. Ploratio Morbus 3/5
Chilly track, skit, nothing special.
We arrived at the decent/bad part.
9. Everything Everyone Everwhere Ends. 1/5
“Love - Raped and afflicted
Life - Soiled and ***ed beyond
Sense - Devised, perfected “
Bland. Flat songwriting, not good. This song might appeal to people that just lost a special person in their lives but then again I would expect something better.
10. The Reckoning 2.5/5
Another song where I feel that stuff got copied and pasted with Pro Tools. But besides that this is a good song, pretty hard hitting with nice melodic vocals. A must hear for fans of melodic metalcore. It doesn't really fall short on a lot of points, nice song.
This is where the album closes, Anger, Denial, Acceptance
11. God Complex (Anger) 2.5/5
Nice fast song, maybe too short for it's kind? The chorus is really good, the backing vocals really makes it feel worth listening. This also gives you a big punch of Adrenaline, when it's done it has a nice keyboard part that takes you to denial.
12. Motive Method Opportunity (Denial) 3/5
Skit, with some vocals tracks of the title track that makes it feel like a flashback.
13. Exit Wound (Acceptance) 4/5
Oh, the ballad. Now this is pretty nicely performed, I like what the mixes (Mike Plotkinoff) did here with some of the tracks. For example having a snare in the back ground with a lot of reverb. The piano part really fits as well, Jonny repeats some lines that have been said in the title track as well. But now it feels like they really are trying to close a chapter with the last chorus with beautiful background instruments.
Conclusion: This is a record that had a lot of potential but the attempt to sound raw makes it fall short on a lot of points seeing their experience and knowing the sound of their previous attempts. Not an album that's worth checking out if you're a fan of the “old” Spineshank.
Tracks to check out:
– I Am Damage
– I Want You To Know
– Anger Denial Acceptance
– Murder Suicide
Tracks totally not worth checking out:
– The rest.
Recommended albums (even if you did like this record):
– Bring Me The Horizon – Sempiternal
– (Almost) Every other Core album.
– Spineshank – The Height Of Callousness
This was my first review I hope you enjoyed it. Also English's not my first language, I tried my best.
