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The Gauntlet: Human Abstract, The |
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Human Abstract, The Album Review
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Tracklist
1. Harbinger
2. Self Portraits Of The Instincts
3. Nocturne
4. Crossing The Rubicon
5. Sotto Voce
6. Mea Culpa
7. Channel Detritus
8. Movement From Discord
9. Polaris
10. Echelons To Molotovs
11. Desiderata
12. Vela, Together We Await The Storm
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Thank god for the world we live in today, a world equipped with the Internet and free of the post-Nirvana Lilith fair era of music when metal bands had to dress like they were going to a baseball game to get on the radio. If Dimmu Borgir, a band from Norway that's dressed like Conan the Barbarian meets Kiss, can headline Ozzfest then metal is officially back, even in the mainstream market. This means that experimental and innovative bands like The Human Abstract have a chance to be heard and thank god (or satan or the infinite nothingness or whatever you believe in) for that.
You don't have to be a psychology major at UCLA to listen to The Human Abstract, but it wouldn't hurt. A new band out of Los Angeles that can best be described as AFI and Dimmu Borgir's bastard love child, The Human Abstract has just released their first album 'Nocturne' on indie punk/metal label Hopeless Records. A hardcore punk black metal band may sound like a completely bad idea or just impossible but give The Human Abstract a chance and you will be completely impressed. The members of The Human Abstract know how to play their instruments, I mean really play them. Epic classical guitar solos are just as prominent on 'Nocturne' as the lead vocals. Instrumental pieces that border on math metal insanity, classical interludes, melodic choruses and hardcore punk verses intertwine to make up the twelve songs on this disk.
It is impossible to describe in words how well these diverse elements blend together because it seems like they would be totally incongruous. Take track five 'Mea Culpa' for example. A song that could be the 'hit' on the album, it's anthemic and catchy chorus is layered over a very technical rhythm section, the verses are a ranting hard-core punk diatribe, and the whole thing culminating into a fantastic, epic, progressive guitar solo instrumental thing. 'Crossing the Rubicon' starts out very technical and then switches into a catchy athemic little tune complete with hardcore punk yelling moments. There is a technical metal epic in the background of the song that occasionally comes to the foreground making the emotional moments all the more moving because it sounds like a string quartet burst in the room and began playing along. Many of the songs on 'Nocturne' have this quality.
There are a lot of bands out there right now trying to creatively fuse metal, emo and hardcore punk, so many that the sub-genre screamo was created, but none of these bands can touch The Human Abstract. The Human Abstract doesn't go soft on the metal fan nor does it bore the emo fan with repetitive blast beats. It manages to blend all these different influences without compromising the integrity of anyone of them. It's almost like cheating that this band is made up of such technically skilled musicians that can also write a catchy tune. Usually you get one or the other. Any metal, hardcore, emo, screamo, hell any music fan at all, will be damn impressed with The Human Abstract. This is the future of metal, forgetting about genres and combining anything and everything that was ever good about heavy music.
Review by: Colette Claire
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