ALLEGAEON: MELODIC DEATH METAL YOU’RE NOT SICK OF
Last week, I wrote an open letter to metalcore discussing our falling out (and tipping my hat to excellent metalcore dudes Mercury Switch). What this glazed over was my main beef with it and why I’ve walked away in the first place: it’s caused me to dislike the good things it’s borrowed from, specifically melodic death metal. Not that I’ve gotten rid of Heartwork or my At the Gates albums or anything, but there’s a knee-jerk reaction any time I hear harmonized guitars galloping along. In my defense, the genre’s worn out. There are only so many notes and so many patterns one can combine before they’re all used up, and with the glut of metalcore bands biting Sweden’s finest over the last decade, it’s pretty much mathematically impossible that one wouldn’t be at least slightly bored with dudes mining minor keys for filler between breakdowns.
This is a shame, really, when it comes to bands like Allegaeon, an almost hilariously talented group of dudes from Colorado making the most of their Arch Enemy crush on Fragments of Form and Function, their debut album. Though in theory it’s tired, they do it so goddamn well that it’s hard to really hate them for it. They do bring some new(ish) and interesting elements to the mix, but the thrill is hearing melodic riffs and not rolling your eyes right away. It’s an uphill battle right out the of the gate for them, and I’ll be damned if they don’t climb the shit out of that hill.
From the near-black metal mood that opens the album (on “The Cleansing”), one can easily tell this is going to be a different sort of journey. Granted, it only takes 52 second to settle into familiar territory, but they’ve earned the right to settle there. The noteworthy elements of the band show up almost immediately: a great sense of songwriting and incredible musicianship all around, particularly lightning-fingered guitarists Ryan Glisan and Greg Burgess. Normally I think fret-jumping riffs and sweeps are something that should be dialed back, but when the band have material like these to sink their teeth into, listening to them gnaw it down to the bone is often thrilling. Admittedly, most of the album is just pretty solid, but every now and again, they hit one out of the goddamn park: the mechanized stomp that the band scuttle around like a busier Lamb of God in “Across the Folded Line” stands out in particular. The sense of purpose is what’s inspiring, though. Metal is always at its worst when it’s wrapped up in trends. Allegaeon couldn’t be making this kind of music at a more inconvenient time, and yet by bucking popular taste, they’re all the better for it.
Of course, they don’t ignore ALL the pitfalls: the production is way too pristine and occasionally heavy-handed. And some of the riffs, despite their best intentions, don’t quite get off the ground; the opening lower register fretwork of “Point of Disfigurement” sounds like every late-period once-great melodeath band’s “radio single” I’ve ever heard. But they make the deflated world of melodic death metal still sound like it has some elasticity to it, and serves as a reminder of why you liked it to begin with. Allegaeon are a solid band, and deserve all the attention they’re going to get. That is, if people can get past the harmonized noodling at the beginning to the album. It would serve you quite well to do so.
(3 out of 5 horns)
-SO
