Pursuing the End
Symmetry of Scorn
Bakerteam Records
2013
Amaranthe have caused a big “stir” in the metal world. When the Swedes, spearheaded by the beautiful and talented Elize Ryd, pretty much took the chart of several countries by storm a couple of years ago, getting millions of views, some thought it was due to Elize’s looks, others due to her vocal prowess and undeniable charisma and others due to the unusual triple vocalist configuration of the band, that led to a weird musical mash up hybrid of modern techno melodic pop metal with harsh vocals now and then and female pop chorus and flourishes of metalcore & emo gothery...?! Bizarre stuff indeed. Their second attempt was not as illustrious, as it was a little too hastily prepared, but now, we are witnessing a lot of copy-cat bands that feel compelled to try various “similar hybrids”.
PTE, are not exactly an Amaranthe clone. They are not as virtuosic (as for instance Olof) musicians and they are quite heavier... which differentiates them quite a bit, but you get a harsh male vocalist that also does some slightly cleaner vocals and a female vocalist that attempts some melodic vocals, that are neither, classical or exactly – normal singing... they come off as extremely harmonized singing usually drowned out in a lot of its own re-verb that’s mixed in such a way that doesn’t really allow the vocalist to be clearly audible. That could mean two things. Either that the guy who mixed the album, didn’t know what he was doing, or that he knew what he was doing too well and that the female vocals, were not good enough to be too prevalent. The female singer has serious accent issues and she does not exactly appear to have got some amazing range either. At least she sounds a little less annoying than the death metal growler guy/singer that, just sounds quite annoying, one dimensional and flat. Also the introduction of a lot of electronic/goth and dance elements in the music while expected and predictable is a little too much and gets over the top on certain tunes.
A couple of tunes like “Cage of Hypocrisy” and “In Vain” have a couple of good moments, but also tend to have shortcomings as well... (the band attempted to masquerade some of those by having the female singer disrobing and performing some titular lesbian acts on the video of the former song something that seemed to backfire and not really having the desired effect of “promotion” by seeming more like calculated and cliché and banal)…
Overall, the album which also suffers from a rather annoying drum sound that is quite flat and a dry production and mix that is way too unspectacular and lifeless is also plagued by the likeness between the songs and the inability of the band to introduce some diversity in their compositions and performances. Who needs another “modern goth metal” band that sounds like another, especially a severely mediocre one? It will take a lot of work for these guys and girl to get anywhere. The latter songs display some pretty decent ideas on guitar and also some better female vocals, but then again, that begs the question, why in the first half of the album those were kept in the check... a case of too little, too late....
PTE, are not exactly an Amaranthe clone. They are not as virtuosic (as for instance Olof) musicians and they are quite heavier... which differentiates them quite a bit, but you get a harsh male vocalist that also does some slightly cleaner vocals and a female vocalist that attempts some melodic vocals, that are neither, classical or exactly – normal singing... they come off as extremely harmonized singing usually drowned out in a lot of its own re-verb that’s mixed in such a way that doesn’t really allow the vocalist to be clearly audible. That could mean two things. Either that the guy who mixed the album, didn’t know what he was doing, or that he knew what he was doing too well and that the female vocals, were not good enough to be too prevalent. The female singer has serious accent issues and she does not exactly appear to have got some amazing range either. At least she sounds a little less annoying than the death metal growler guy/singer that, just sounds quite annoying, one dimensional and flat. Also the introduction of a lot of electronic/goth and dance elements in the music while expected and predictable is a little too much and gets over the top on certain tunes.
A couple of tunes like “Cage of Hypocrisy” and “In Vain” have a couple of good moments, but also tend to have shortcomings as well... (the band attempted to masquerade some of those by having the female singer disrobing and performing some titular lesbian acts on the video of the former song something that seemed to backfire and not really having the desired effect of “promotion” by seeming more like calculated and cliché and banal)…
Overall, the album which also suffers from a rather annoying drum sound that is quite flat and a dry production and mix that is way too unspectacular and lifeless is also plagued by the likeness between the songs and the inability of the band to introduce some diversity in their compositions and performances. Who needs another “modern goth metal” band that sounds like another, especially a severely mediocre one? It will take a lot of work for these guys and girl to get anywhere. The latter songs display some pretty decent ideas on guitar and also some better female vocals, but then again, that begs the question, why in the first half of the album those were kept in the check... a case of too little, too late....