In the early days of the 2000s, The End came blasting out of the frosty wasteland of Canada (jokes people, jokes). Sounding a bit too much like Converge or The Dillinger Escape Plan, they still kicked ass in copious quantities. Their debut release for Relapse, Within Dividia, was a beautifully packaged album that blasted through just over 30 minutes of mathy chaotic aggression with sporadically placed jazzy ambient passages. It was a fine album. Good even. But not great, the greatness was yet to come.
In the month of February of this year, 2007, they released their sophomore full-length (third release in general) which is entitled Elementary. It is a coming of age for this band, a branching out in unexpected and wonderful ways. Pulling a wider range of influences, they have crafted a more original sound. Not entirely the most original band around, but really, how many bands can truly claim an original sound these days? Some of these mentioned influences include bands from the metal persuasion such as Isis and Mastodon, but also bands from a less metal element such as The Mars Volta and Tool.
The album kicks off with Dangerous, a song that immediately starts the pummeling but slows down for a mid song rhythmic breakdown which starts off like Devin Townsend and ends up like Tool. The vocals are mostly screaming for this song, and the vocalist has a very pleasant scream. Kind of reminds me of Yakuza mixed with The Dillinger Escape Plan.
Next up is a more atmospheric and melodic song which is pretty much entirely sung, and the singer's voice reminds me of a less extreme Cedric Bixler-Zavalas. Good song, but the real joy comes in the next song Animals, which starts off in a blistering rage and runs into an epic melodic sung section before tapering off in another Tool-esque rhythmic breakdown and finally closing on another blistering moment. Truly wonderful. Best song I've heard this year so far.
The rest of the album includes songs that are slow and melodic that build into bursting aggression, songs of chaotic frenzy, songs of ambient creation, and songs of epic passion. This is not an album that you can listen to one song and predict the entire thing, as is so sadly the case with so many bands these days (including The End in their earlier days). This is a diverse and powerful album, an album that finds a promising band reaching that promise and turning into something even more promising. I can't wait to hear their next album.
9 / 10
In the month of February of this year, 2007, they released their sophomore full-length (third release in general) which is entitled Elementary. It is a coming of age for this band, a branching out in unexpected and wonderful ways. Pulling a wider range of influences, they have crafted a more original sound. Not entirely the most original band around, but really, how many bands can truly claim an original sound these days? Some of these mentioned influences include bands from the metal persuasion such as Isis and Mastodon, but also bands from a less metal element such as The Mars Volta and Tool.
The album kicks off with Dangerous, a song that immediately starts the pummeling but slows down for a mid song rhythmic breakdown which starts off like Devin Townsend and ends up like Tool. The vocals are mostly screaming for this song, and the vocalist has a very pleasant scream. Kind of reminds me of Yakuza mixed with The Dillinger Escape Plan.
Next up is a more atmospheric and melodic song which is pretty much entirely sung, and the singer's voice reminds me of a less extreme Cedric Bixler-Zavalas. Good song, but the real joy comes in the next song Animals, which starts off in a blistering rage and runs into an epic melodic sung section before tapering off in another Tool-esque rhythmic breakdown and finally closing on another blistering moment. Truly wonderful. Best song I've heard this year so far.
The rest of the album includes songs that are slow and melodic that build into bursting aggression, songs of chaotic frenzy, songs of ambient creation, and songs of epic passion. This is not an album that you can listen to one song and predict the entire thing, as is so sadly the case with so many bands these days (including The End in their earlier days). This is a diverse and powerful album, an album that finds a promising band reaching that promise and turning into something even more promising. I can't wait to hear their next album.
9 / 10
