| | Full Review | Ratings (594) |
Give your Rating |
| 4.0 excellent | Kronzo | May 8th 15 |
Veil of Maya's 2015 release, Matriarch, displays a change in vocalist, and with that a change in their sound. The new vocalist is an excellent fit for the band, and the addition of clean vocals adds variety to their music that seemed to be yearning for development after so many years playing in this style. Fans of the band will still love the instrumental side of this band regardless, playing some of their heaviest material since The Common Man's Collapse. Soaring leads and crushing breakdowns are littered throughout the album's runtime. While this is definitely their catchiest release yet, it suffers from multiple tracks sounding similar sometimes. This makes it harder to hold the listeners attention for the entirety of the album. Regardless, Matriarch is a well-crafted piece of music that makes me excited for the future of Veil of Maya's new lineup. 4/5
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.5 superb | iamSeraph | March 25th 15 |
have you heard "Mikasa"? XD oh. my. lord. these cleans, these innovative and amazing rbreakdowns, licks from outer space...everything. veil of maya - welcome to metalcore olymp. rthe record has to be a strong contender for AOTY, at least from a heavy, core-loving rperspective.
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | iGoWumbo | May 11th 15 |
Veil of Maya alters their sound for the better. Although many feel that they went "soft" for clean (and I guess, whiny??) vocals, this departure brings about the funnest VoM album since CMC. Take a few listens before rating, and if the clean vocals still grate on you, well, enjoy the 28 minutes of repetition that is Eclipse until the end of time.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | cloakanddagger | April 14th 15 |
I was never a fan of this band before this album but this blew me away. Much better song structures and those cleans, as high as they are, actually work well with the music.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Jared Floryan | May 17th 15 |
When I look back in hindsight, Chicago's own Veil of Maya were never really all that groundbreaking despite what various people say otherwise. However, when one compares the band's latest album Matriarch to what they were dishing out prior to it, it's apparent that the more entertaining qualities of VoM's sound had all but diminished. Though not an inherently bad offering, the deathcore troupe's fifth studio recording stands as this band's most generic release to date. Mark Okubo's guitar melodies are still nice on the ears and the overall instrumentation proves to be occasionally great, and yet Matriarch is a big step backwards for the band songwriting-wise. What doesn't help the entourage's case is the newcomer in Lukas Magyar, who is simply inconsistent as heck; I can dig his utilization of screams and growls, though the clean singing is simply not warranted. Change for me is totally fine so long as there's a satisfactory and/or grand payoff in the end, which ain't the case here unfortunately. Brandon Butler's tenure with Veil of Maya was overall better - and hell, whilst I'm at it, I slightly prefer All Things Set Aside to these guys' fifth LP in spite of the rough production.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | Alex C. | May 15th 15 |
From group leaders to mere followers of a trend we just wish it were dead already. Veil of Maya
sacrifice their sound for a collection of trite choruses and bad chugs. Salvageable from this mess
is just the "Teleute" single, which managed to unite old and new in a way that worked - too bad is
the exception to a boring and stale rule.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | Keira | May 11th 15 |
Are we sure this isn't Spencer "The Bad Thing" Sotello on vocals?
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | TooSmackMusikqy | March 9th 23 |
I would rather get attention for being an asshole than get no attention at all
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | Elevon | October 13th 22 |
The most criminally underrated album. Great songwriting, so catchy, lots of variety, and people shit on it because they didn't like the cleans. Been jamming Matriach since 2015 and never gonna stop.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | Barksdale | June 7th 22 |
Best Tracks: Mikasa, Aeris, Three-Fifty, Phoenix, Matriarch, Daenerys.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | Maximo | July 22nd 18 |
Great songwriting and nice vocal performances, but god I've never been able to stand the production on this record. Everything sounds so flat.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | Eminor | December 5th 16 |
There are a few good songs on here, such as Mikasa, Teluete, and Daynaries (I'm too lazy to spell check), but everything else just sort of blends together.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | iGuter | February 7th 16 |
Simply breathe and enjoy. Veil of Maya has always been a talented band and with their new vocalist and new melodic direction, it neither detracts or changes them. It feels refined and fully realized. Metal purists or fans of their older work will be disinterested in this "new direction" but this has only made them stronger as artists
Bump |
| 3.5 great | NewBallistics | February 3rd 16 |
A pretty intense album only held back by the addition of radio-friendly clean vocals and predictability.
Bump |
| 3.2 good | Trey STAFF | September 11th 15 |
Djent, metalcore, deathcore? what is this exactly? I was never a huge fan of their previous releases, but I like the new direction on this album. The clean vocals add a much-needed diversity.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | TheFourthCircle25 | June 6th 15 |
I could say that I'm a little disappointed by Veil of Maya's new album, because after the song "Mikasa" completely blew me away, I was expecting this to be the best album of the year so far. It's not, at all, but it's still a great VOM record. It continues with their sound from Eclipse, continuing with their catchy, progressive/"djent" sound but with the addition of clean vocals. The new vocalist does a great job, though I still miss Brandon Butler on vocals; hopefully he'll come more into his own with later releases. Overall this is a great album, with some great experimentation in sound, that ultimately doesn't measure up to earlier records but will still satisfy fans of the band. 8.5/10
Bump |
| 3.0 good | BRAman22 | May 19th 15 |
Matriarch is a decent deathcore record that sees the slight progressiveness and technicality uplift it a bit, but not quite out of mediocrity. The vocals on here are very hit and miss, much like with Periphery.
Bump |
| 0.0 | howmanycanyoufit | May 13th 15 |
recommended by reviewer
Periphery Periphery II:This Time It's Personal
sounds right up my alley
Bump |
| 1.5 very poor | bmelt CONTRIBUTOR | May 12th 15 |
Its cool for what it is, but Vom was once something really great and different. Ive been rlistening to them since 08', but man they really "fit in" with this one. This would have rbeen aight like 5 yrs ago. I cant help but feeling a bit empty.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Comatorium. | May 12th 15 |
This is subpar even by their standards. Clich?d and boring, nothing stands out beyond how cheesy and overproduced it all is, with cringe inducing vocal stutters and effects I would expect to hear from the likes of Emmure. Meh. Pass.
Bump |
| 1.5 very poor | Toondude | May 12th 15 |
another day, another shitty deathcore band
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Benc | May 8th 15 |
I'm very disappointed. Marc is getting really lazy. He has been focusing more and more on the chugs with each album which completely robs the breakdowns of their power, and every actual riff sounds like it was lifted straight from the band's previous work. This combined with the addition of a worse version of Spencer Sotelo singing half the lyrics on the album make VoM's latest cd extremely bland and utterly uninteresting.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | Piem | March 13th 24 |
| 2.0 poor | Spec | August 21st 23 |
| 3.5 great | xeom | July 13th 23 |
| 4.0 excellent | PFKlax | May 15th 23 |
| 4.5 superb | borkle | May 13th 23 |
| 3.5 great | Glovoc | April 12th 23 |
| 2.0 poor | Shwany | January 13th 23 |
| 4.0 excellent | dballs | December 14th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | El Olam | December 13th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | janunn | July 31st 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Axmetal | July 24th 22 |
| 3.5 great | Matty CONTRIBUTOR | June 13th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Get Low | February 1st 22 |
| 4.5 superb | Tundra | January 31st 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Dogie | December 19th 21 |
| 3.5 great | xlev | August 25th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | DJD1ed | July 29th 21 |
| 5.0 classic | Luna | April 2nd 21 |
| 4.5 superb | V3XED | March 19th 21 |
| 3.5 great | CHINDI | February 15th 21 |
| 3.5 great | Grandpa | February 13th 21 |
| 3.0 good | ErichB | January 25th 21 |
| 3.5 great | Suyan | November 17th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | DiGio991 | September 21st 20 |
| 3.0 good | Halez | May 1st 20 |
| 3.0 good | RedBol | January 16th 20 |
| 3.5 great | kodama | October 18th 19 |
| 2.5 average | Renée | October 7th 19 |
| 5.0 classic | 8733 | August 22nd 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | josh | June 10th 19 |
| 4.5 superb | ARDCWE | April 28th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | Josh | April 3rd 19 |
| 3.5 great | Rausku | December 29th 18 |
| 2.0 poor | latpac | December 21st 18 |
| 2.0 poor | ryguy | November 8th 18 |
| 3.5 great | Loch | January 20th 18 |
| 2.0 poor | Elynna | October 21st 17 |
| 3.0 good | gilly | October 19th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | krypis | August 29th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | nbats | August 22nd 17 |
| 3.5 great | Soossi | August 2nd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | ORTCEZ | June 25th 17 |
| 3.5 great | YRI | June 5th 17 |
| 3.5 great | tcarafi | February 28th 17 |
| 3.5 great | Korpcun | February 15th 17 |
| 2.5 average | Pherin | February 11th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Joran | February 7th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | ian b. | December 31st 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | Kascade | December 28th 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | jpjpablo | December 28th 16 |
| 2.5 average | Suli | December 2nd 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | tellah | December 2nd 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | pboitel | August 6th 16 |
| 1.0 awful | Wicker | July 29th 16 |
| 3.5 great | elry2k | July 17th 16 |
| 3.0 good | Drawk | July 1st 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | Nikolas | June 10th 16 |
| 3.5 great | Snide | May 14th 16 |
| 3.5 great | tgdv | April 29th 16 |
| 3.5 great | Drifts | April 13th 16 |
| 3.0 good | EOsta | March 31st 16 |
| 3.0 good | slaps | March 8th 16 |
| 5.0 classic | KG713 | December 20th 15 |
| 2.5 average | Abraxas | December 15th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Puckoff | November 29th 15 |
| 3.5 great | Leslie | November 20th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Frisbee | October 11th 15 |
| 3.5 great | Aaron77 | September 25th 15 |
| 4.5 superb | Hansol | September 24th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Haon | August 24th 15 |
| 3.5 great | Eocene | August 20th 15 |
| 3.5 great | Xav | July 9th 15 |
| 2.5 average | ToT720 | June 25th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | WEC | June 11th 15 |
| 3.5 great | ckssr1 | June 10th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | Prole | June 5th 15 |
| 4.5 superb | befire | May 26th 15 |
| 3.5 great | Fujay | May 22nd 15 |
| 2.5 average | heck | May 18th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Dmax28 | May 18th 15 |
| 3.0 good | po0ty | May 17th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | cvlts | May 15th 15 |
| 3.5 great | NBA | May 14th 15 |
| 5.0 classic | Nuhead | May 12th 15 |
| 4.5 superb | rohanb | May 12th 15 |
| 5.0 classic | BK201 | May 12th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | Zubes | May 11th 15 |
| 2.5 average | N2B3J | May 11th 15 |
| 3.0 good | trilo | May 10th 15 |
| 3.0 good | Thor | May 8th 15 |
| 5.0 classic | enkenk | March 26th 15 |
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