Album Review: I Am the Trireme- Unholy Divination

Dude... that's fucking cool

I was going to do a quick article about how Dragonforce have found a new lead singer, but then I remembered that I seem to be one of about eighteen people who still like Dragonforce, so fuck it. Now you know, and now we can get on with this review. This review is going to be a retro one, because this EP actually came out sometime last year. Unholy Divination is the newest offering from the Philadelphia-based melodic blackened death outfit I Am the Trireme, a band that we featured in our most recent show review. As I've said before, I'm pretty biased towards these guys since they've been friends of mine for some time now, but that doesn't make the music any better or worse, so let's do this.

From a musical standpoint, the band has improved vastly since their last EP Viatica. There were some good songs on that one, but for the most part it was still pretty much a breakdown-heavy chug fest. There are a few breakdowns on this one too, but they're much more spaced out this time, and keep in mind the band has been working on new material since this, and vocalist Jay Briscoe has personally assured me that they've more or less dropped breakdowns from their songs entirely. Pus, even with the breakdowns the music here still sounds massive. The riffs are fast and ominous, the solos are great, even the synthesized orchestration sounds epic, and I'm not usually a fan of MIDI orchestras. The only slight drawback is the drums, but we'll get to that later. When you put all of this together, the end result is something that's equal parts melodic and brutal, like a slower Abigail Williams. Many skeptics might lump them in with Winds of Plague, and that's not an unfair accusation with the breakdowns, but rest assured, I Am the Trireme still wipes the floor with bands like them. I defy any of those wannabes to match Joe Cantamessa's scales and sweeps, you will lose. Top all of that off with thought-provoking, blasphemous themes and you've got the basic idea of what I Am the Trireme is all about.

On the other hand, there are a couple hiccups along the way. To go back to the drum comment I made earlier, the problem isn't a lack of talent, but consistency. The whole album is pretty much custom made for fast, consistent blast beats and double bass, but more often than not the drums are either (in my opinion) too slow, or don't stay fast for long enough. A perfect example is the first track "From Beyond the Waking World" (not counting the intro track); it starts off with a lightning fast drum fill and immediately goes into this menacing, ominous tremolo picked riff, and then you would think the drums would come back in with super fast blast beats, but instead it's just a disappointingly slow double bass rhythm. This sort of thing happens all throughout the EP, or sometimes the snare track isn't loud enough so you can't tell if he's still blasting or just playing double bass. It's such a huge disappointment too, because the crazy fast stuff that you can hear makes those parts sound infinitely better. I'm telling you, if their new drummer (oh yeah, they got a new drummer since they recorded the EP too) can tighten up and maintain his intensity with the new material, this band could be the next Fleshgod Apocalypse. The only other thing working against them is the slightly annoying breakdowns, but like I said, the new material is completely two-step free. These guys are thinking brutal, not br00tal.

8/10

Despite the few minor complaints I mentioned, you should definitely pick up Unholy Divination if you're looking for some really good, forward-thinking local metal. If any of you are in the Trenton, New Jersey area next week the band is opening for Rotting Christ, Melechesh, Abigail Williams, Hate, Lecherous Nocturne and other cool black metal bands at the Championship Bar & Grille on Thursday, March 8th. I made damn sure to get my ticket the last time I saw them, and you can expect a full review of the show shortly thereafter. Hit I Am the Trireme up on their Facebook for show dates and tickets, and while you're at it share it on Twitter or whatever. God, I hate talking about Twitter so damn much. Before we go, here's one of the songs from this EP, called "I Am Many". It's not my favorite one, but it's a good example of what I was talking about; take a listen and imagine how much better it would be with less breakdowns and more blast beats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlZwp5YNJz4&feature=related

See you next time, bros and lady-bros.

-BK

Show Review- Dead Walk the Earth, Her Virgin Womb, I Am the Trireme and Thrown Into Oncoming Traffic- February 26th in Wilmington, Delaware

You know what, fuck this whole "no articles during the weekends" thing. We're not Metalsucks, I'm feeling quasi-productive for once, and last night's show was too damn good to just sit on, so from now on I say if something's worth writing about, I'm not gonna wait until Monday to put it up. On that note, let's get it on.

Last night, I went to a little place called Mojo 13 out in the suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware to catch a bunch of cool local bands. I'll confess I wasn't expecting much, because the whole lineup was just local bands, no big names. Recently this tiny venue has somehow been booking surprisingly big bands to play there (I've seen Goatwhore and Cattle Decapitation there, and Dying Fetus is scheduled to make an appearance in a couple months), but this time it was just the local heroes playing for all their friends and local supporters. Basically, I knew the bands would play great, but I wasn't sure a whole lot of people would show up or if they would be energetic. Little did I know this would end up becoming one of the best local shows I've ever been to, possibly second only to Internal Fear's farewell show last month.

Things were looking a little slow when Atlantic City deathgrinders Thrown Into Oncoming Traffic took the stage, but as soon as they started playing they had everyone's undivided attention. Despite there only being about a dozen people watching them, they played their lightning-fast, impressively technical songs with all the energy and enthusiasm of a band playing to a sold-out venue. They were short one guitar player, but everything still sounded just fine, and the vocalist's between-song bantering kept everyone laughing and in good spirits, so nobody made any fuss about it. The only real disappointment was the lack of any moshing, but that could just be attributed to the "first band of the night" curse that seems to plague just about every local show that ever happens. If you're looking for some really good, fast, experimental deathgrind, be sure to check these guys out. They're not your average Jersey band, that's for sure.

Next up was the Philadelphia/southern New Jersey based melodic blackened death outfit I Am the Trireme. Now I'll admit, I'm slightly biased towards these guys, since I've been friends with them for a good couple years now, back when they were just another slightly above-average deathcore band. They've always been pretty good, and have taken more influence from bands like Abigail Williams and Enfold Darkness than Winds of Plague or the various other poser outfits out there, but over the last year or so they've completely abandoned the 'core aspect all together, replacing the breakdowns and pig squeals with blast beats, powerful synth orchestration and unapologetic blasphemous themes. They may be young, but make no mistake, these guys hate Jesus with every fiber of their being and aren't afraid to show it, but they also have plenty of fun doing it. More people started to show up and show interest in them about halfway through their set, so the energy level was definitely turned up a notch, but they really sealed the deal when they got the first pits of the night going. If you get the chance, be sure to pick up a copy of their new EP Unholy Divination, which I will be reviewing later in the week. If their live show is any indication, it's going to raise some eyebrows.

Next on the list was a band that has actually made something of a name for themselves, especially in this area: Her Virgin Womb. They've only been together for a few years, but in that time they've put out a very good EP, The Methods of Killing, and have played with several big name death metal bands. They're not exactly super popular, but they're definitely the most widely-known band on this bill. As such, I was surprised to see that there had been a significant lineup change, with a new guitarist and vocalist being brought on board. Her Virgin Womb has always had a very distinct sound, like a mixture of old school death metal and slam, and I was interested to see how this new lineup would affect their sound. As soon as they started playing, it was obvious that this wasn't the same Her Virgin Womb that I'd come to know, but I actually mean that in a good way. This band has always been really good, but the newer, younger lineup they have now made them sound like a more modern death metal band. No disrespect to their old members, but the change really seems to have revitalized them, and that's saying something, because nobody thought they needed to be revitalized in the first place. The crowd mirrored their newly found energy with consistent moshing, lots of headbanging, and a few people even tried to coax them into an encore after their last song. Sadly there was no encore, but they did play a great set, and I'm looking forward to plenty more good shows with this new lineup.

After Her Virgin Womb, I decided to step outside for some fresh air, and as a result I pretty much missed the next band's entire set, but from what I heard they sounded pretty decent. I believe the phrase I jokingly used while talking to Alec Pezzano (guitarist for I Am the Trireme) was "They sound like Crowbar, except like eighty years younger and with a better vocalist", so there you go.

The last band of the night (at least while I was there, there might have been one more afterwards) was Dead Walk the Earth, whose vocalist is none other than Andrew Derosier, aka Dr. Satan, aka the guy who we did our first interview with. Until last night I had only seen a few YouTube videos of Dead Walk the Earth's shows, so I didn't quite know what to expect. However, I did know that Andrew is a very charismatic, energetic frontman, so no matter what the music sounded like or how many people were there, he would make it fun for everyone else. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about any of this, because as soon as they started playing their first song, the place turned into a madhouse. There were huge pits, brutal riffs and slams, hilarious between-song jokes and bantering, and at one point a random old man showed up to watch the show (and I suspect to get as close to a couple really hot girls standing next to him as he could). I can't be sure, but I believe he was somebody in the band's grandfather or something, but either way he was very good-natured about everything that was going on, even though to say he was out of his element would be the understatement of the century. His presence gave the whole set a sort of surreal comic relief; no one had the slightest clue what the fuck he was doing there, but we all just went with it and laughed, just like he was just going with it by being there. After a while the band finally wrapped it up to enthusiastic applause and cheers, and I decided to head home before the splitting headaches and exhaustion could take their toll on me.

Speaking of wrapping up, before I do just that with this review, I'd just like to ask a question, to no one in particular: why the hell are there so many smoking hot girls in Delaware??? Seriously, this is like the fourth time I've gone to a show there and noticed a relative abundance of extremely attractive girls, they must be putting something in the water down there. Hit me up girls, I'm a nice guy I promise. I'm telling you guys, you wouldn't think it, but Delaware really is the place to go for good metal shows. The bands are great, the venues are very minimalistic and laid back, and the guy-girl ratio is almost a perfect fifty-fifty, and the girls all seem to be mad sexy, or at least really funny and cool. Be sure to check out all the bands I've mentioned, and if you're in the area both Thrown Into Oncoming Traffic and Dead Walk the Earth will be playing with Dying Fetus at this same venue on Friday, April 15th. That is by far the biggest band Mojo 13 has ever gotten to play there, it's going to be the show to end all shows. Take care guys, see you soon.

-BK