There’s an infinite question posed for contemporary metal bands. How do you progress your sound in a genre that is so specific, and has such colossal demands from its fans? The route bands such as Bring Me The Horizon have taken has been to soften up somewhat, incorporate other genre’s melodic elements and hurl yourself at the mainstream and that , for the main part, has worked. However, three albums in, Betraying The Martyrs don’t look to be showing any signs of following suit or slowing down just yet.
From the off we’re treated to a cinematic crescendo of reverb heavy guitars, but this is to be short-lived. The drop-tuned chugging guitar riff of album opener ‘Lost For Words’ kicks you in the teeth and then some. Aaron Matts’ crushing screams soon enter the fray, followed by blistering blast beats. At this point, we’re currently just ticking every box on the metalcore checklist, all that’s needed now is a clean melodic chorus and, to little surprise, it immediately follows. This becomes a recurring theme of the record.
Not to be too disheartening to the Parisian sextet, there are certainly unexpected components on offer. The symphonic elements are embedded smoothly and technically the album is superb, with some quality musicianship presented throughout. Lead single, ‘The Great Disillusion’ demonstrates this admirably but these moments are few and far between.
Title track ‘The Resilient’ does offers sufficient levels of diversity, and culminates the strongest aspects of the record blending them all together neatly. Those symphonic sections make a welcome return, alongside scorching riffs and rapid blast beats. It’s a high octane anthem, that’s full of energy.
The main musical crime committed here is that it becomes somewhat tiresome. After twelve tracks of monotonous riffs and unmemorable hooks, each song appears to seamlessly blend into one another. Unfortunately, Betraying The Martyrs cement themselves as another carbon copy metalcore band that has surfaced countless times before.
2/5
’The Resilient’ by Betraying The Martyrs is released on 27th January on Sumerian Records.
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Words by Ryan Wilson (@thrillcollins_)
