Another great example of mixing clean and growl/scream vocals, while still sounding manly. The Human Abstract’s new album Digital Veil is simply metal masterpiece. The band adjusted their lineup a bit before recording the new album. Previous pipework had been done by Nathan Ells, but singer Travis Richter of From First to Last and The Color of Violence superbly stepped in. A.J. Minette, the original Human Abstract, returned after pursuing his classical music training. Digital Veil keeps your attention throughout the entire album, assuming of course that you enjoy the metal genre.
Think The Dear Hunter meets Beneath the Massacre. An unusual combination by themselves but together they go together oh so nicely. The album starts with “Elegiac”, which adequately describes the mournful and depressing acoustic melody, which leads into a powerful overture of electric guitar. The acoustic “fake out” intro on metal albums is a bit overdone but well executed in this case. Guitar overdubs-a-plenty follow the first track. One guitar usually plays the traditional breakdown type riffs, that have plagued hardcore and metalcore since the early 2000s. The breakdowns however are overshadowed by a complexity of scales, arpeggios, and tapped hammer-ons.
The title track of the album is by far the best song on Digital Veil. Again the intro to this song is a similar half tempo break down, with great guitar work played over it. See Video Above. The rest of the album follows suit to playing catchy rhythm explosions overlayed with neoclassical solos and scales. The album however never seemed to lose my attention, which seems like an occurrence in more and more new albums. Another notable song is Holographic Sight, which features a great solo done by Dean Herrera* that immediately reminded me of the guitar solo from “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver” by Primus. Horizon to Zenith, the 8th track on the album, sounds more like the aforementioned Dear Hunter reference. Nathan Ells vocals are chorused giving it that Casey Crescenzo feel on this track. The final “Patterns” song closes the album in a 3/4 signature with a slurry of guitar notes showing off the capability of the band. It seems to be a triumphant and fitting end to the album, which may just be my top album of 2011.
8½/10
Track Listintg:
- “Elegiac” – 2:11
- “Complex Terms” – 5:10
- “Digital Veil” – 3:30
- “Faust” – 5:56
- “Antebellum” – 7:29
- “Holographic Sight” – 4:28
- “Horizon to Zenith” – 4:19
- “Patterns” – 3:43
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*Thanks to Manu231-55 for the correction on the Holographic Solo.
