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An album that just finds too much going on throughout it musically.-
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| Single Bullet Theory: IV |
Metalcore, Heavy Metal
Goomba Music
September 27th, 2011
- Diabolical - 5:43
- What Have I - 4:46
- The Wake of Betrayal - 7:40
- Hands of the Wicked - 6:16
- Leviathan Smiles - 4:59
- Auctioneer of Souls - 10:14
- Letting Go - 5:09
- Samsara - 7:16
- Echoes of the Past - 4:40
- Spirit Crusher (Death cover) (Bonus Track) - 6:38
- The Hurt that Never Ends (Bonus Track) - 6:24
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| Review Information |
Release length: 1:09:44
Review posted on October 30th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 6.5/10 |
 
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Route 666 (2003) • Behind Eyes of Hatred (2004) • On Broken Wings (2007) • IV (2011)
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| EP(s): |
The Anatomy of Being (2000)
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| Demo(s): |
Single Bullet Theory (2002)
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| Review |
Single Bullet Theory has been around for quite some time at this point. Hailing from around my neck of the woods (Philadelphia, PA), the group formed back in 2000 and never really found themselves on a bigger label then many underground or independent ones such as Crash Music. Their debut, Route 666, was one of the albums that managed to seep into the Metal world somewhat, while the band seemed to vanish after it with their two following albums getting less and less publicity, and less then positive feedback as well. In the Summer of 2008, the band broke up, but then later that same year reformed. It's now been about three years since reforming, and the group brings us their fourth full-length recording, atply titled IV. But, has the group's steady musical progression made an album that will finally make more fans of the style aware of this act, or is IV just another Metalcore offering?
Right away you can pick up on a huge musical difference in the group. IV shows that the steady building of the band from their debut album has really started to pay off. The group has shed themselves of traditional Metalcore material and blended in what seems to be a decent amount of Heavy Metal aggression and riffs similar to what one might from on an Into Eternity or even 3 Inches of Blood release, but it's not something you can swear by those two bands with. The inclusion of high falsetto's really uhers that vibe of bands like that into this release while the range of the vocals here show further growth to include the traditional shouting with clean singing, dirtier rhaspy snarls, and even some deep near-guttural performances. The music itself carries a great intensity to back all of those up, though commonly composed of a more intense variation of today's Metalcore sound. The guitars feel rather blunt with a deep, clearly auble in the mix bass guitar backing them up. The only drawback to these would be the audio quality of the album which feels very restrained in quality. It's not really raw, but at the same time it feels a little less then modern and ends up sounding like it's holding the more ruthless edge of the music back. This can also hinder some of the more impressive moments such as the guitar solos, which already find a rather off distortion being used and making them sound horribly off key with the music, such as the one at the start of "Auctioneer of Souls." The drumming sounds pretty good as well, but suffers the same restrained sound. There's a clear clash to the cymbols you can tell was meant to be louder, and the same can be said for the click of the bass drum that sadly sounds a little weak, and even the snares that don't really seem to come through as good as they should.
And really, that's a real letdown with this release. IV has the potential to be a strong release in the Metalcore field, but because of that restrained feel, the material here often just feels weaker then it should, and given the album lasts over an hour, that'definitely not a good thing. "Diabolical" sets the tone of the release well, and also doesn't seem to let the faults of the audio hold it back. The music here is energeticv and generally more intense then you would expect for this group. That and the combination of varying melodic chords and clean singing mixed together work well to create a hint of atmosphere, though nothing too spectacular. But, in the end, the song is still a solid entry to the release, and one fans of Metalcore will eat up despite the lack of a breakdown that is substituted for a more Thrash-fueled solo and accompanying music. The same can be said for the following track "What Have I," which uses a good deal of falsettos instead of the deeper shouting approach. This track's more energetic sound also makes up for that restrained audio sound since it fills the track a lot more then some of the other songs on here that would allow that issue to hold the song back, though at the same time this does show off the faults of the drum kit's audio compared to the guitars that end up kind of dominating the snares of the kit.
The tracks that make up much of the album do end toned down a bit as far as the amount of energy is present. These tracks are pretty good for what they are, though many end up having long track lengths that can sometimes feel like they overstay their welcome. "Auctioneer of Souls" ends up being one of these tracks. Clocking in at over ten minutes, the song itself starts to feel a bit drug out roughly two thirds into the song, though the guitar solos are rather enjoyable despite them sometimes sounding off with the rest of the music. There are a decent amount of changes to the music throughout, and the solo is something worth experiencing that does keep the song alive towards the end, but eventually you just want the song to finish. "The Wake of Betrayal" manages to keep some of that energetic aggression from the start and has a pretty strong aggression to it, but ends up being another song that, by the end of the track, you'll feel the band has overstayed their welcome with it a little bit. Of course this doesn't mean these are bad songs, in fact that's far from it, and even when it feels like the band is pushing the limit of how long the songs retain their effectiveness, they are still entertaining to an extent.
Even "Samsara" is an enjoyable track, but this one manages to keep the music fresh and catchy the entire time, also really having a stronger melodic touch to it that really helps keep the song alive. "Echoes of the Past," however, doesn't really end up offering much from the band, and does feel a little more on the generic side of things with clashing ideas. The clean vocals fit a lighter sound and atmosphere, though the music is just too heavy, and even cliche for the style, causing the two to heavily clash. Of course there's also the Death track "Spirit Crusher" which is a good song, but ends up being just an alright cover, nothing too special and doesn't capture at all what made the Progressive tone of the track by it's original composers such a great song. There are also times on here that random noise kicks in that serves no point to the song and even comes off like someone burping with a heavy distortion applied.
IV is a strong attempt, but musically it just didn't that much for me. Single Bullet Theory clearly seems to be evolving, but with that evolution the group is really doing too much. There's Heavy Metal, there's some Progressive Metal, there's some Death Metal a la Death, there's your generic Metalcore, there's even keyboards on the last track of the release that come out of nowhere, and it all just comes to a head. The band's problem is being a bit too generic has now become an issue of being too much at one time, and now they need to focus on what sound they want to work with. IV feels more like a test then anything, sort of varying blueprints to see what tracks go over more and how to concentrate on future material, and hopefully that's the really the case with this album. IV isn't necessarily a bad album, and it does have some solid material, as well as a number of good to ok tracks. Overall, it's definitely an album you'll want to sample first, even for fans of the band over the past three albums.
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