Native Construct - Eclectic Prog metal for fans of Haken

mattbrood

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Nov 8, 2008
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Native Construct is the product of collaboration between several students that began in 2011 at the storied Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Fueled by a desire to breathe new life into the modern metal genre, Native Construct artfully blends a wide spectrum of compositional influences, ranging from classical all the way to prog metal and musical theatre. The result is a wonderfully unique sonic texture, made up of extended-range guitars, theatrical vocals, and a full complement of symphonic instrumentation. Guitarist and composer Myles Yang's passion for innovation, coupled with his extensive academic study of arranging and compositional techniques, makes Native Construct a truly distinctive up-and-coming metal act.

In 2014, the band's music caught the ear of Brian Slagel at Metal Blade Records, and led to a recording contract and a worldwide release of the band's debut album, Quiet World. The album promises to be a rich, vibrant, and aurally engaging musical experience. While following a musically programmatic approach to its storytelling, the album demonstrates a fascinating unification of numerous musical styles and provides an emotional journey through the vast and imaginative world Native Construct have envisioned.

Quiet World was largely self-produced and written between 2011 and 2013 in between the individual band members' studies at the Berklee College of Music. What began as jam sessions simply for fun eventually turned into a full-fledged musical endeavor. All tracking and programming was done at the band's home studios in Boston, MA, with the exception of vocals, which were recorded with Jamie King at The Basement Studios in Winston-Salem, NC. The album was mixed by Rich Mouser at The Mouse House Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and mastered by Jamie King.

A brief listen to Quiet World is enough to make it apparent that there is a concept, here. Though it's best to let the band explain the album in their own words: "Quiet World is about a guy who loves a girl. The guy is a bit of an odd and eccentric person – an outcast. He's also a mute, and a little unstable, as it turns out. The girl doesn't return his feelings, but he can't bring himself to let go. As his unrequited passion for her devolves into obsession and eventual resentment, his mind begins to slip further and further away. He convinces himself that he can't be loved because of his condition and abnormalities. So he decides to create for himself a new, fantastic world of which he has complete control – a world where there are no oddballs or outcasts. A world where everyone is surrounded by people who are just like themselves: a much quieter world.

"It's at this point that the first track of the album, "Mute," begins. And it turns out that many of the subjects of his new world are not as content living this way as he is. In the second track we see a new character, the Archon, rise up and unite his people in the clouds with the once distant people in the sea. He leads an opposition to "Sinister Silence," as the people come to call him. The rest of the album unfolds with events within the "Quiet World" and manifestations of the enduring struggle between the Archon and Sinister Silence. The lone exception is track number four, "Your Familiar Face," which steps out of this world for a moment to give a closer look at the events prior to the first track and the tragedy of Sinister Silence."

What is impressive about Native Construct is not necessarily an involved concept on a debut record, it's that they wrote, produced, and recorded the album while balancing school work and on a college student budget. It's the epitome of "self produced." And what Native Construct wants fans to know is that "the composition process for this album was intensely meticulous from top to bottom. Each note, each lyric, each twist and each turn were arrived at with the utmost care. As such, we were able to weave rich, often subtle layers of meaning into the music and text. We're very excited for you all to experience the result of our efforts!" Quiet World is slated for release on Metal Blade Records in April of 2015.
 
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To me, they sound similar to Between the Buried and Me, without the randomness for random's sake, and more symphonic and jazz elements.
Sounds good so far, especially if they keep up with the more jazz elements throughout the album.
 
To me, they sound similar to Between the Buried and Me, without the randomness for random's sake, and more symphonic and jazz elements.
Sounds good so far, especially if they keep up with the more jazz elements throughout the album.

I'm the opposite, to me it does sounds like they are being random just for randoms sake. I still like it though, interested to hear the rest of the album.
 
Remember everyone, there's a huge Between the Buried & Me tour in November/December with Enslaved, Intronaut and Native Construct as the openers. :)
 
Native Construct Has Equipment Stolen In San Antonio

"We were just robbed in San Antonio, Texas. We came back from In N Out to two people in our van, tossing our backpacks (with our laptops, passports, and other valuables inside) as well as Poh Hock's new Strandberg Boden OS 8 into their car parked alongside to conceal the break-in, which occurred in a Home Depot parking lot in broad daylight....
....Any help in the form of shares, etc to get the word out about this unique guitar (in case it shows up in any pawn shops in the San Antonio area) is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, this also means we will likely not be able to make it to the Canada dates on this tour due to our passports being gone. Sorry, everyone."

Since then a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the band offset the cost of the losses. You can contribute here. Native Construct also comments:

"The Between The Buried And Me family has created a GoFundMe campaign for us. The support this community has shown and continues to show us is unbelievable. I know many of us in this community are struggling musicians -- even just sharing this post would go a long way in helping us put a dent in the over $10,000 of stolen possessions. We promise to repay you all with good music as soon as we can.

"Thank you so much, Luke Holton and the rest of BTBAM band/crew, for taking the initiative to set this up for us. If you'd rather help us out by picking up some merch, you can do so here or at any of our shows. As I said, this community has absolutely floored us. Over 300,000 people have seen our previous post about Poh Hock's missing guitar, thanks to your shares. All of your kind and helpful words remind us that there is still plenty of good in the world. We feel fortunate and loved to have so many wonderful people on our side. Thank you all."