All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends (2011)

Disclosure: I still dislike the All That Perish logo, but this fatter version of it is aesthetically more pleasing than its predecessors, which seemed like they were about to dissolve right off the album covers. So, yeah, the font choice is still pretty dated, a 90s, tattooed tough guy relic (which might be more acceptable if these guys were an NYHC band), but for once it doesn't look like an ugly scratch distracting from the artwork. Also, if you'll pay attention to the title coloring, the fiery 'Ends' seems like it just might be hinting at This is Where it Ends as a swan song for the band; not that they made such a claim, and we now know it not to be true, unless they decide to call it quits now that Hermida has moved on to Suicide Silence, but I can't help but feel a little gypped. This is Where it ENDs. Sad times? Good riddance? Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out? That will really all depend on the music...

And yeah, this is probably the best All Shall Perish record, by baby steps if not a country mile. Or at least, the one I'd point out if someone asked me where to begin with their catalog. Not that I'd recommend this band over others in their niche, but at least they've maintained an upward momentum throughout the four records that hints at further greatness. For the most part, This Is Where It Ends plays out like a hybrid of faster-paced brutal death metal and At the Gates-styled melodic stuff, with the band integrating more dissonance and interesting embellishments to their chug-off breaks, and a better hand at integrating a more fulfilling, psychotic atmosphere into the tunes occasionally via whispers, spoken word, etc. Granted, there are times when this plays out like a pretty straight AtG-melodeath extravaganza with little of its own personality, such as the opening to "There Is Nothing Left", or the verse of "The Past Will Haunt Us Both", which are a lot like The Black Dahlia Murder's pugilistic spin on Slaughter of the Soul, but elsewhere you've got really bouncy, djent-like brutality, or Necrophagist-style lead technicality and it ultimately creates a fair balance over the 12 tracks.

I pretty much lost any interest in Hernan Hermida here, because he really just sounds like another standard Tomas Lindberg with some deeper growls that he can shift back and forth into. There is obvious anger like you'll find on any deathcore outing, but his retching doesn't seem remotely distinctive, nor as vicious as his peers like Trevor Strnad or the late Mitch Lucker, who he is now replacing (good luck with that). The songwriting here is also so busy that I often lose Mike Tiner's bass lines in the mix, apart from the few softer moments where he can stumble through. It's just that the tunes rely on such a hectic pile of precision riffs that my ears had a hard time following anything other than the guitars of Beniko Orum (who was on his last leg with the band) and newcomer Francesco Arturato, which take center stage. The new drummer Adam Pierce is also good, but like most modern brickwork players, his hard strikes and technical prowess just don't seem to distance him from any of a widening pool of peers who play at the same level. There's really just not a lot of personality anywhere on This Is Where It Ends...the record functions more as a technical behemoth where the riffs and tempo shifts take charge.

Fortunately, they really do take charge, and a few tunes like closer "In This Life of Pain", with its traumatic transition from piano to intensity. actually stand to memory awhile after the dust clears and you've moved on to something else. What I appreciated was that the constant strands of melody over the album keep the material fractionally more compelling than if they went with the bare, punchy rhythms...nothing bewilderingly complicated, but lots of distractions, and an overall incline in maturity. The drawback is that this is just not much of a creative boost over Awaken the Dreamers, and it would be difficult to pick this band out of a lineup of others who attempt to fuse those same hardcore/metalcore backgrounds into their Suffocation, Morbid Angel and At the Gates influences. The great attention to melodic and harmony detail here does ultimately negate any ability for the music to become frightening, tortured or genuine. This Is Where It Ends is ultimately a clinical, meticulous study in modern 'extreme' metal that lacks the timelessness of hooks that defines what might make a 'classic' record in this field. From a technical standpoint, it doesn't disappoint, but I want a little more tangible, memorable emotion, and sadly they've yet to produce something that I'd choose to quantify/rate as a 'good' album. This is another close call, but that's the best I can say, and there is not a major gulf in quality between this and the two albums preceding it.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (this place is set for ruination)

http://www.allshallperish.com/

All Shall Perish - Awaken the Dreamers (2008)

Awaken the Dreamers is an earnest attempt to smother the chugging fundamentals of its medium into something so heavily glazed with ideas that it would impossible for me to dislike it; even if I face the nagging realization that, stripped bare of its melodies or 'toppings', I'd be left with one boring pizza pie of slogging palm-muted grooves that add absolutely nothing of value to the deathcore spectrum. That goddamn awful logo unfortunately remains on the cover, almost like a reminder of the ghetto brickwork 90s mosh mentality All Shall Perish seems to consciously or unconsciously champion despite its more musical leanings, but otherwise I'd have to say I enjoyed the artwork more than their other efforts, with its (literally) six-gunning Statue of Liberty and the symmetric clouds of jet fighters that flank it. If only the middle of the picture was vomited upon by this generic relic of a logo, we'd be in business at last...

Musically, though, All Shall Perish and I are just about to seal the deal, our right hands skin on skin without yet giving a firm shake. The effort put into this record is laudable, despite its faults, which almost all center on the continued overuse of warlike Earth Crisis chugging rhythms that structurally go nowhere interesting. It wouldn't be difficult for musicians of this caliber to find a solution...for instance, kicking the bland chords or adding some dissonance second and third notes to the palm mutes, you'd instantly get something deeper than the deathcore (and previously metalcore) breakdown status quo. Fortunately, the guitarists compensate with a bewildering amount of higher string exercises that range from modern Swedish melodeath sequences, or tapping patterns that often remind me of 8-bit video game classics if they were being arpeggiated by crack whore shredders, or just flashy scale-work that just seems to fit over the banal foundation well enough that you, as the listener, can consign the rhythm guitars to another piece of the percussion kit. Which I think was the Californians' intent, to continue pushing themselves without alienating the fistfighting anthems that spurred on its original audience.

There are slick, jazzy breaks, and segues where All Shall Perish seem to flirt with metal inspirations of a more progressive nature, but to be honest these often feel like they're just abrupt transitions in which they're attempting to throw a surprise left hook at you when they really need a more impactful uppercut. Don't get me wrong: it's a joy that they see fit to expand themselves without losing that violent core, but occasionally these metalcore/deathcore groups seem as if they've just put together their tracks piecemeal, and even on this solid album you could probably switch off a lot of the riffs and breaks between different songs and come up with a similar result. It's more modular than built of strong individual songs, and so there aren't a lot that I found enjoying in full...I simply could pick out a lot of smaller passages within them that were pretty cool, and yes many of those were melodies or leads. The bass playing continues to count here, with loads of groovy fills in tunes like the title cut that keep the music multi-faceted without detracting from the busyness of the guitars. Matt Kukyendall's last studio performance with the band is likewise fit: flawless footwork, no shortage of fills and a clean capacity to match the jazzier tempo shifts that populate the experience.

As for Hermida's performance, it's pretty much on par with the sophomore album, only he brings in some cleaner emotional vocals that remain fortunately subdued rather than reaching for that radio accessibility so many of these bands shot themselves in the arse for. I was quite shocked to hear Cam Pipes of 3 Inches of Blood add some screaming harmonies to "Black Gold Reign". I am nowhere near a fan of that band, who I find to be corny, ironic and not the least bit funny...but even I have to admit that in this context, it creates a more compelling texture against the expected chugging of the rhythm guitar, and I almost wished that they would have used him more throughout. That said, Hermida himself continues to show some promise as he continues to evolve towards that status of 'distinct deathcore frontman' (which sadly it seems he will be cultivating further in another band). The lyrics are admittedly the bland, personal stuff you'd expect out of 90% of 90s hardcore, nu-metal and so forth, eliciting zero curiosity and painfully little standout imagery that you couldn't find on even the least interesting Converge record, but the delivery is at least genuine.

I really enjoyed the 'experimentation' like the lush ambient/acoustic guitar pieces "Misery's Introduction", "The Ones We Left Behind", or "Memories of a Glass Sanctuary" (with vocals!), which flow surprisingly well into their more brutal neighbors, but I don't think in the end I came away from Awaken the Dreamers with the impression that it was a truly memorable outing...just a damn polished one that plainly exhibits a mutual musical advancement among the membership and a willingness to embrace external ideas without shafting those that have stuck with them since the beginning. Aesthetically I prefer the more clinical/brutal death metal exhibition that Job for a Cowboy utilized on some of their full-lengths, as a poster child for positive growth in this field, but as much as anyone might want to write off All Shall Perish as another 'me too' band that was signed to a large label based on the emergent deathcore trend, records like The Price of Existence and Awaken the Dreams proved that these gentlemen were absolutely not duds. Relegated at large to the 'second string' of the niche, perhaps, but I'd attribute that more to them lacking the emo-hipster-youth attuned art direction and rock star attractiveness that several of their peers flaunted to reap the admiration of the girls and bois in the audience. Musically, these Californians are on point, and even better than some of the shitty, overhyped acts in their medium.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (a true man will take a stand)

http://www.allshallperish.com/

All Shall Perish - The Price of Existence (2006)

I've noticed an interesting trend in how I, a person with only a cursory or moderate interest in deathcore as a valid musical outlet, differ with the 'core' audience of the style in personal perceptions of what makes one of these records good or bad. A lot of dudes are looking for something as brutal and fistfight-worthy as possible, with little regards to the musicality involved, the ambitious or innovative grounds being staked out by the artist as to how they can distinguish themselves from a whole horde of other brutal death or metalcore outfits. They don't want anything to get in the way of that sheer physicality...I mean at the extreme end, I've known fellas who go to gigs to fight, not to give a shit about the music, although strangely enough some of these guys seem to simultaneously respect and air guitar to soulless technical noodling...basically two ends of the spectrum in complexity, colliding. Is this what metal has boiled down to today for the audience first reared on hardcore, metalcore and nu metal?

Whereas, I'm sort of the opposite...I want to hear how this urban/suburban blight might transform itself from the same breakdown shit I've heard repeated over and over since the former half of the 90s, into something more memorable and compelling in riffing choices. Truth be told, I'm all about the songwriting, which dates back to my own experiences delving into metal since a very young age in the late 70s...not that 'songwriting' precludes a heavily mosh/breakdown-based palm-mute panorama by any means, but how those sequences are often balanced against other to create something I want to listen to repeatedly (or not, but in that case they would have to be some truly infectious slugfests). I bring this up because, as they've progressed through the years, All Shall Perish seem to be of the same mindset, ramping up the melodic death metal influences in their songs as they've grown their audience and musical proficiency. The Price of Existence is almost instantly a more musical entity than its predecessor Hate.Malice.Revenge, thanks to the faster melodic picking and attention to spurious leads, but clearly the beatdown rhythms have not themselves 'perished', since they comprise much of the support to the flightier, fickle guitar work.

I'm not saying it's that much better than the debut, because for all the increased effort the majority of this music is far too quickly forgotten, but here at least as a record I can sit and listen through and actually perceive a handful of ideas that don't bore me straight from the starting gate. This is of course the record where they picked up Hernan Hermida on vocals, and while he's nothing extraordinary in this field he has a pretty seasoned palette of painful growls and sneers that at least surpass his predecessor in quality, as he seems to so effortlessly dive into the faster syllabic passages or belch forth a sustained Tomas Lindberg style snarl. And yeah, At the Gates is still a pretty good comparison, only add in the surplus of fisticuff chugging progressions and dour hardcore chord components circa Hatebreed/Earth Crisis, as well as a slightly more surgical approach to the guitars that involves rapid arpeggiated runs or clinical picking that recalls the operating table thrash that tech death borrowed from European gods of the 80s (sung and unsung) like Pestilence, Carcass and Deathrow. In fact, I wouldn't go so far as to say I enjoyed much of the album, but it's got particular pieces that really appeal to my ears, and it simply clobbers that first effort.

Special mention to the bassist, Mike Tiner, who makes himself known here with some swerving and busy grooves and lines that lend a greater depth to the choppier, clinical guitar elements in tunes like "Prisoner of War". The leads, too, while not so scathingly memorable that you'll think of them outside the experience, have a more emotional and melodic range to them ("Better Living Through Catastrophe") which really reinforces that All Shall Perish was not interesting in sticking around Beatcore Browdownland for all eternity, but in achieving that very important balance. Which, honestly, they do here. The Price of Existence falls short of success for me only in the fact that as well-sharpened the band's utensils have become, this specific meal is just not the tastiest you're likely to find. For instance, some of the Job for a Cowboy albums where they went all brutal death are packed with more interesting, catchy riff patterns, and even bands like Carnifex and Whitechapel have been making dramatic improvements to their material, at least in my estimation (like I said, there's a pretty stubborn core audience to this niche which seems adverse to any sort of variation or logical progression).

Yeah, if you're into deathcore for both the breakdowns and musicianship, The Price of Existence is really not a bad place to start. The lyrics are mildly more coherent, and the cover art better, though their logo remained fucking awful. Fortunately, they didn't shitty this up with a bunch of clean radio choruses or any of that Killswitch Engage garbage (approved by soccer moms everywhere), and the fact that this was their first for Nuclear Blast sort of comes with the implication that the production is better. I had no problem with the studio sound for Hate.Malice.Revenge, but this is superior in terms of vocal levels and drums. The addition of the second lead guitarist (Chris Storey) was a wise one, and in fact both guitarists were new here...it was a 60% lineup change with only the rhythm section remaining off the debut. They made some good choices and transformed from the sort of band I could hear just about anywhere I could find a 'core or 'metal' gig, to a potential contender in a West Coast arena that also contained bands like As I Lay Dying and Suicide Silence. There's certainly a sense of 'me too' about this, another bandwagon outfit attempting to capitalize on the success of East Coast commercial metalcore (and The Black Dahlia Murder) by gutting some of its sissy ingredients and incorporating more death metal and gut churning mosh moments...yet that is the worst thing to be said for it (okay, outside of the logo).

Verdict: Indifference [6/10] (before the days of gluttons)

http://www.allshallperish.com/

All Shall Perish - Hate.Malice.Revenge (2003)

Is there anything more frustrating than an extreme metal record which wastes so little time in dispensing its potential qualities to reveal its true nature: a reductionist, lazy bro-down mosh vehicle? All Shall Perish has long been presented to me (by acquaintances) as one of the most 'legit' acts in the deathcore field, an example of toughguycore backed by some real Oakland street cred, tight musicianship and something I might get into since I have both a soft spot for NYHC and a few of the more musical efforts in this particular niche (like Job for a Cowboy's recent output). So I decided to delve into their catalog, of which I only had a cursory knowledge from a few videos, and thus far I'm turning up blanks folks...this, lamentably, sort of sucks, and what makes it worse is that if I went at it with a paring knife I could probably carve out a 10-15 chunk of decency.

Unlike some of their later stuff I've heard, which seems to thrive more on that In Flames/Black Dahlia Murder axis with the more technical, perky melodic riffing, Hate.Malice.Revenge seems to dwell in a space between a more surgical, brutal death metal influence and the unnecessary neanderthal slog-core that soils it as an experience (at least for me). You've got some fairly apt tremolo picking selections here which range from Carcass to Deicide to Morbid Angel and these are broken up by some of the most banal palm muted chug sequences you've heard since bands like Earth Crisis capitalized on them in the earlier 90s. To the Californians' credit, they do incorporate a lot of slower, dreary melodies which might even belong to the Bolt Thrower camp if weren't based around such basic pit structures, but in general you range from the faster picked tremolo death to the breakdown and that's the majority of what I hear on this, without any real clue on how to incorporate the tempo shifts with any tact or style. The notes match, the shift in pacing is not unappreciated, I just found myself hoping for some nuance or cleverness in how they distributed the blunt punishment. It's kid stuff...with something more mature struggling to break free.

Vocals are incredibly generic here, but it's all too rare among the deathcore crowd that they are anything else? This was before they got the better known Hernan Hermida (who has since moved over to replace Mitch in Suicide Silence), who became synonymous with their sound, but here you've just got a selection of generic 'look, Mom, I can growl too' gutturals and higher pitched, retching snarls. Not awful, but overbearing in that typical American fashion where sounding brutal and oppressive trumps having any character or true distinction to one's performance. You could interchange this guy with almost any kid you pulled off the street and arrive at similar results, whereas death metal was once about having some uniqueness or charisma...can you imagine if a deathcore band boisted a frontman as compelling as a Martin van Drunen, John Tardy or Paul Speckmann? Yes, I know, that's a grand idea, so if you've got some in mind, do point them out, as the vocals always seem such a shortcoming for this subgenre. Gurgle like an indistinct toilet over the pathetic palm mutes: for the win! Fuck off!

Everything just seems so custom-made for moshing on this disc that it seems entirely inconsequential when you're outside of that setting, and that might work out for some records, but here it just doesn't equate to a pleasurable listening experience. Surprisingly, there are few production pitfalls. I like the way Hate.Malice. Revenge actually SOUNDS, just not the choices the band makes in sculpting that sound. Roiling, chuggy guitars that don't dowse themselves in unnecessary effects. Tribal like drumming that lurches along with every groove, and a nice and fat bass tone which at least adds to the mix, if not a lot of interesting notes and fills. The vocals are loud, which is a constant in deathcore and metalcore, but not to the point of distracting away from the chords. Elsewhere, the aesthetics of this debut are fucking pitiful. The 'three harsh words separated by period punctuation' album title has already been done by bands like Revenge and Watchmaker, who are actually good, so that never needed to be revisted. Also can't stand this band's logo...it just reads like any generic House of Pain-era tattoo from the 90s, and I don't even find that acceptable or interesting even when a straight up hardcore band does it...groups like Hatebreed started a nasty trend, methinks.

I'm going to assume All Shall Perish was a pretty young group when this dropped a decade ago, but the lyrics are mediocre in the way most 'heartfelt' hardcore/metalcore emotional stuff was in the early 90s, reading like the scrawls and soul-searching of a 14 year old in his freshman notebook. To be fair, a few of them have that same apocalyptic vibes to them (common in deathcore), but others are about relationships and being betrayed and hurt and how awful that all is, whether in a domestic situation or a girl/boyfriend. Hey dudes, there's plenty of pussy in this world (or dick, if that's your fix), but if you're going to write about how you've been squashed, how about trying some metaphor? Some lasting imagery? Interesting syllabic patterns? If bros could write like that close to a thousand years ago, why can't you? I think bands like Converge or Trap Them really set the standard for all lyrical things 'core, so it's a fraction painful to read the more primitive sentiments...not that primitive is always bad, but if it's not going to be entertaining, it's not enough.

Hate.Malice.Revenge was a pretty unusual release for Amputated Vein since the label focuses almost exclusively on brutal death, but I can see how they might wanna take a chance on this since the style did not immediately create such friction among the diehard goremongers. However, I feel like they might have taken this chance with a better band. Granted, I'm in the minority, and these guys blew up pretty big with their Nuclear Blast deal (which produced a few superior albums that I'll cover later), but I get the impression from Hate.Malice.Revenge that these guys were just the local neighborhood flavor who just had their shit together enough to put on some raging pits at their gigs, and that seems to be the only musical momentum this material is capable of. Brief glimpses of something more engaging throughout, but ultimately a sodden and underwhelming experience beyond balling up your fist and juicin' the testosterone. Dude metal for dudes who wanna hit other dudes repeatedly, but those into music for the MUSIC would be better served with the later All Shall Perish outings.

Verdict: Fail [4/10] (your grasp won't follow me to the grave)

http://www.allshallperish.com/