ALETHEIA

5th May, 2021: Hope for the Dying - Aletheia (progressive metalcore, 2013)

I actually listened to this quite a bit back in the day, in a post-Human Abstract search to try and find anyone else doing tolerable progressive metalcore. And though this is actually really good, pretty much everything I dislike about it comes from its metalcore roots, so I'm unsure if that qualifies as good for its genre. Still, this is pretty great for a prog fan. They have consistent good riffs and melodies, good skills at structuring, and don't wear their influences too plainly - there are bits of Opeth or The Agonist here, but not enough to make it feel derivative. But so many of the metalcore elements bring it down for me - the bad harsh vocals, the utterly abysmal kick drum sound, the eye-roll-worthy breakdowns. I'm not entirely sure if this would be better without them - then it would be a stock standard prog metal album, but they certainly add nothing to my personal enjoyment.

7.2 (7th listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction