#nwoushm

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, June 1: All That Remains, “Before the Damned”

Overcome played like more of a refinement and consolidation for All That Remains following the great leap forward that was The Fall of Ideals, with numbers like “Before the Damned” providing a continuation of a sound that clearly worked for the band.  Jason Suecof’s production was a bit more spacious, making the songs sound a touch smoother, and the band sounded tighter and more confident.  But while these were mostly incremental adjustments, Phil Labonte’s vocals were getting significantly better with each record, as he learned to better modulate his grunting and growling and balance out his cleans so the transitions were more organic.  And insofar as metalcore had settled on its basic template by then, All That Remains had honed in on their approach and by virtue of adhering to its tenets became one of the leading practitioners of the subgenre, with “Before the Damned” epitomizing All That Remains and its scene in totality.

[metalsongoftheday]

Friday, December 8: Shadows Fall, “A Fire in Babylon”

The Art of Balance was a breakthrough for both Shadows Fall and Century Media, both of whom found themselves perched to take full advantage of metal’s creative and commercial resurgence in the early 2000s.  But the band’s third album also epitomized the strange state of flux both the band and label were in at the time: Shadows Fall had announced themselves as worthy upstarts with Of One Blood, while Century Media had built up years of goodwill through its commitment to the underground and nurturing bands like Iced Earth, Nevermore and The Gathering, but all were still financially strapped and not entirely sophisticated on an operational level.  All of this meant that The Art of Balance, though exhibiting significant creative growth, was still a bit bush-league, especially in its production values.  As such, “A Fire in Babylon” would’ve absolutely destroyed had it been saved for The War Within (when both the Shads and Zeuss fully came into their own), but here it was a promising epic that just slightly missed the mark.  Brian Fair’s lyrics were esoteric and insightful, but he didn’t fully understand how to arrange his vocals and harness the power of his roar, instead coming off as somewhat aimless in the verses.  Meanwhile, Matt Bachand and Jonathan Donais delivered Megadeth-worthy aggression with their riffing and solos, but Zeuss could only do so much with the pennies Century Media budgeted for the recording. Nonetheless, “A Fire in Babylon” captured Shadows Fall’s potential in full blossom, showing a band ready to step up and take their place alongside Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God as leaders in the New Wave of US Heavy Metal, while also showcasing their more dynamic and ambitious side.  And indeed, one album later they would bring these qualities to full fruition and briefly reign supreme in their scene.

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, February 21: Trivium, “Caustic Are the Ties that Bind”

In Waves was largely a continuation of Shogun (which remains Trivium’s best album), though it was slightly more straightforward in its construction but also more cohesive and esoteric in imagery.  But “Caustic Are the Ties that Bind” continued Heafy’s penchant for inexplicably wordy and nonsensical song titles, while musically, the song harkened back to Ascendancy with its chugging blastbeats, metalcore verses and semi-anthemic choruses, though Heafy had also clearly grown considerably as a vocalist, sounding much more forceful and less whiny.  Colin Richardson’s production gave the song an epic feel even though it was only 5 minutes long, and the tune had the feel of a polished and tight unit wrecking the joint with precision and finesse.  Of course, the lyrics were profound to Heafy and absolutely silly to everyone else, though in his defense, he was still in his early 20s when he wrote them.  Trivium often got in their own way, letting their ambitions overwhelm their writing, but “Caustic Are the Ties that Bind” offered proof of how effective they could be when they put their heads down and let it rip.