Embrace The End - Ley Lines Review
Posted by Dan Marsicano on 04.17.2008
Embrace The End returns after a three year absence with their first record with Century Media Records. With three new members, the band hopes to continue on the success of their debut album. Is Ley Lines a solid release or does it suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump?
The Band
Jesse Alford-Vocals
Chris Topher-Guitar
Spencer Daly-Guitar
Addison Quarles-Bass
Bart Mullis-Drums
The Track Listing
1. Cop in a Cage-3:32
2. Denim on Denim Hate Crime-2:06
3. Intensity in Ten Cities-4:08
4. Trainwreck on the John Galt Line-4:30
5. Ride It Like You Stole It-3:33
6. Pity and the Road to Bimini-4:19
7. Overnighter-3:57
8. Sport the New Plague-1:00
9. Ley Lines-6:04
10. The God Switch-4:38
The Review
Sacramento, California band Embrace the End has made an impact in the crowded metalcore genre. The band is unique for its use of two vocalists, which was put to good use in their debut album, 2005’s Counting Hallways to the Left. After one of the vocalists, Pat Piccolo, left, the band decided to continue on with Jesse Alford as the main vocalist, handling both the death metal growls and the hardcore screams.
The Embrace the End of 2008 is a lot different than the 2005 version. The band not only lost Piccolo, but both guitarists and the bassist. With only Alford and Mullis returning from the first album, Ley Lines could have been an epic disaster. Most bands struggle to recover from the lost of one key band member, let alone four of them. However, Embrace the End do their best to continue on and now are releasing their first album with Century Media Records.
For those who have never heard of Embrace the End, think of them as a less crazy version of Dillinger Escape Plan. That’s not to say that the band is a copycat; it's just that Embrace the End has many of the similar characteristics that Dillinger does (time changes, very odd song structures). This is apparent with the first track, “Cop in a Cage,” which goes through many different changes, one second being full of blast beats and growls and the next second being a soft, acoustic jam. It is a jarring, yet exhilarating, start to the album.
The band basically continues along this path for the rest of the album, showing off their technicality and, at times, brutality. However, while all of the band members are efficient at their instruments, the songs seem to blur together. By the time the album reaches “Ride It Like Your Stole It,” the listener may grow a bit leery of the repetitive nature of the songs. The only thing that stood out in the first half, even after repeated listens, was “Intensity In Ten Cities,” which has a great guitar solo and one of the best breakdowns on the album.
Yes, before I continue, there are breakdowns…many of them, in fact. If you are one of those metal fans who hate breakdowns, you won’t like this band. Embrace the End doesn’t overuse the breakdowns in most of the songs, so they don’t distract too much from the music.
The second half of the album is where the band takes a turn in the right direction. “Pity and the Road to Bimini” starts out with a minute long acoustic intro before the song turns into a mid-paced romper that features some of the best instrumental work on the entire album. The screamed vocals ruin the atmosphere a bit though and take away from the song, which is very disappointing.
The highlight of the album is the one two punch of “Sport the New Plague” and the title track. The former is a minute long hardcore punk song that flies by and leaves you breathless while the latter contains solid musicianship and even brings a bit of an old-school heavy metal feel with the dueling guitar solo at the end. The album should have ended there, but the band made an odd track listing choice and put “The God Switch” as the last song. The song isn’t bad, but it seems as more of a mediocre denouncement than a satisfying conclusion to Ley Lines.
Jesse Alford has to go at it alone and does a commendable job. While his hardcore screaming and barking start out strong, they get highly repetitive by the end of the album. The occasional death metal growls help to ease the monotonous pace.
The guitar duo of Chris Topher and Spencer Daly are decent, pulling out a few great guitar leads. The riffing is fast and slightly technical, but some songs don’t seem to gel as well as others, which may be because of a lack of complete chemistry between the two guitarists.
Addison Quarles is heard clearly in the mix but, other than the first track, never gets a chance to really stand out and show off his talent. Bart Mullis continues to bring a solid backdrop to the band, with his fills and time signature changes mixing well with the blast beats and double bass onslaught.
Ley Lines suffers from some of the same problems many of the bands in the metalcore genre do. The songs can get repetitive, especially in the vocal department, and the breakdowns are too frequent at times. Embrace the End tries to mix it up a bit, adding guitar solos and acoustic sections in a few of the song to show the band knows what melody and groove are, which are musical ideas sorely lacking in much of the metalcore music today. While Embrace the End doesn't do anything revolutionary, Ley Lines is a solid album that is worthy of a listen from any fans of metalcore music.
The 411: Ley Lines is a competent album that shows the Sacramento band continuing to deliver fast metal with hardcore influences. The presence of acoustic guitars and solos in a few of the songs helps to break up the repetition that a few of the songs suffer from. Any fans of metalcore, or of Dillinger Escape Plan, would be wise to pick up Ley Lines.
