Videoclip of the Month!!!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

In Dying Arms - The Core of My Existence (Review)

In Dying Arms - The Core of My Existence


I know that singles aren’t really what interests in reading a review (or track analysis I should say) , but I think they’re one of the best ways for bands to give their fans just a little taste of what to come in future albums and EPs. For those who don’t know In Dying Arms is a band which has a deathcore foundation but post-hardcore/screamo structure. These guys started rocking out in 2006 and since then, they’re probably one of the most successful underground bands out there. Ok, I know that last phrase was a slightly contradictory, but they’ve accumulated quite a few dedicated followers and it’s easy to tell why. These guys have; attitude, style and most importantly… awesome music.

Their last release which was self-titled was pretty much a deathcore/post-hardcore hybrid which took the best traits from both worlds; breakdowns, clean vocals, harsh vocals and melody. Now you’re probably thinking “holy cow, this seems like the most perfect band eva!” and it probably is the main reason why this band has accumulated so many followers but to be perfectly honest though, the way their simply crushed deathcore and post-hardcore at their most generic form together felt rather stale. Even though I don’t recall any bands who have made a hybrid which appeals so much to the opposite ends of the hardcore scale as far as “extreme” goes (screamo and deathcore) but because it didn’t really break any ground, I still felt a sense of redundancy. That was until I heard this single…

Let’s walk though The Core Of My Existence step by step. The track starts off with soft sounds of piano’s and melodic style guitar work fading in then immediately goes into a post-hardore style breakdown. Then the first verse comes and holy shit, those vocals! For some reason, I thought the vocals on their self titled album felt hollow and one dimensional but the aid of high quality production has drastically improved this. Those screams are extremely distorted; I think they even rival Chelsea Grin’s screams, that must be insane. The growls are extremely low and hardcoreish, this style of growling it used quite frequently in deathcore. But, this isn’t deathcore, yes there is definitely deathcore influence but this is melodic/post-hardcore. When I heard their last album, I found that the vocals combined with their style of music sounded rather cheesy, but for some odd reason, I think that this combination works more for the music than against it, although I’m not sure how some others would see this “blend” of hardcore. The guitars is where I feel all the action happens; the lead guitarist plays a more melodic hardcore riffs whilst the rhythm guitarist takes on more deathcorey/djent style of riffs. This is a very effective combination I must say and the way the band executed this is responsible for this. One last thing that gives this band a really post-hardcore/screamo feel is the drumming. There are no blast beats or super fast double kicking, the drumming is simple and straight forward. After being exposed to the full fury of In Dying Arms’s extreme side, I was greeted with the first chorus and this is where the softer side of this band are truly exposed. Clean vocals, I’m not sure why but I really, really enjoy the cleans on The Core Of My Existence even more than I did in their previous works. I was checking out what some of the people had to say about this new track and I read some people comment on the clean vocals, saying that they’re aren’t as good as in their previous works. I can even tell the difference to be honest, and now that the production in 10 times as better, it sounds better than ever.

As you can tell by me excitement, I believe that In Dying Arms have really out done themselves with this track and it’s singles like this which make me sit on the edge of my seat until they release a brand new album. The production is better, their song writing has improved and I felt that everything seems much more balanced this time round. I highly recommend people to check out The Core Of My Existence, if you enjoy really modern post-hardcore, screamo and deathcore because this is a real treat. But I must have a travel adversity warning here for the deathcore fans, if you’re into really brutal, blast beating or heavy deathcore this might not be for you. I seriously cannot wait for In Dying Arms’s next release which I think will be better than ever, hopefully it will drop before then end of 2012 (or at least Armageddon). I give The Core Of My Existence (single) a 17/20.

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