Band Names Not Brand Names

At the end of every year, magazines and web sites alike compile their “Best of…” lists and every year, excellent albums get missed on the big lists. It’s just something that happens year after year, no matter what pundits are at the helm. Sadly, it occurs even more when there happen to be bands that release incredible albums outside the realm of “normal” metal. Case in point: Becoming The Archetype (herein referred to as BTA). Why are they outside the realm of “normal” metal (“normal” being highly subjective of course) you may ask? Well, take their label, Solid State Records, and what they typically release: cookie cutter metalcore. Then take BTA and their press release photos and album photo: regular looking guys who probably play metalcore on a metalcore label. So far, nothing fancy or eye-catching. However, pop their debut disc Terminate Damnation into your player, give it just a single spin, and you should realize why they’re not “normal” metal, or metalcore for that matter. They’re but five guys who play progressive metal a lot like another group of five dudes who just happen to be Swedish and are the current forerunners of progressive (death) metal. The comparison is very obvious: BTA’s progressive metal(core) versus Opeth’s progressive (death) metal. This is the first time I’ve used a direct reference to another band, for comparison’s sake, in my reviews but it cannot be helped whatsoever. The first time I ever listened to Terminate Damnation, I envisioned BTA lending support for Opeth on their next tour (take hint Roadrunner Records). Yeah, these young guys are that good.

Taking form as a band in 1999, BTA have always strived to break away from genre misconceptions and “do their own thing”. Honestly, in six years, they’ve done that. Having been in the Atlanta metal scene, I know it’s not easy to get recognition. Being a Christian band, I can only imagine how hard it must have been to come up in the Bible Belt. With God on their side, Becoming The Archetype forged their own path through the local scene, playing brutally progressive metalcore and proudly being a band with a message.

Now that I’ve tossed a bit of band history and a walloping and lofty comparison your way, I’ll let it sink in by blathering a bit. I’ve been mulling over how to write this review for the last eight or nine months, not because I don’t know what to say or how to pen it, but because there’s just so much to the music put before me. There’s a lot to this album musically that sets it very far apart from not only its labelmates but so many other bands in the metal scene. So what’s the main thing that really sets these guys apart from many of their metalcore and death metal contemporaries? You mean besides incredible musicianship and being all around good sports? God. Yep, that ethereal guy in the sky. Becoming The Archetype are very proud to be a part of the flourishing Christiancore/Christian metal scene. Even though some of their peers are attempting to distance their faith from their music, BTA are doing anything but. They proudly wear their faith on their sleeves and infuse every single song with messages and ideas about Him. Having listened to the album a good 100 to 200 times since I got it, I know all the wicked riffs, noodly solos, and blasting drum tracks by heart but I still find something new in the lyrics with every listen. I realize I’m going to have to break this review down into two big sections: the music and the message. First up, the music.

Actually, I’m going to quickly sidetrack and talk about the cover art. It’s freakin’ awesome! When my disc came to me, I thought “Whoa, 80s-inspired, Meatloaf-esque art. Even if the CD sucks, I can always look at the cover”. My hat’s off to Dan Seagrave.

Musically, these guys are off the charts. For all intents and purposes, I have no idea why they’re on a metalcore label, it’s kind of confusing really. Let’s just start at the beginning of the album. It begins like so many other metalcore albums: with a synth-composed intro. The metalcore starts and stops right there on track one, March of the Dead. Careen over into track two, Into Oblivion and you’re thrown head first into prog territory. Are metalcore songs six-plus minutes long? Do they have piano interludes? Do metalcore bands make albums that have any tracks over the six minute mark? Yeah right, most of them can barely hash out four minute tracks of chugging guitars with an obligatory breakdown. I know it sounds like I’m seriously bashing metalcore but I’m really going back to the whole idea of these guys being on a metalcore label. To me, it’s baffling. I read another review that said the same thing, they were baffled as well. It’s a baffle bonanza. Anyway, back to Into Oblivion. The opening seconds are a fast paced gallop build-up straight into a double kick drum lead opus. But less than two minutes in, you’re pelted with a synth interlude that’s backed with crunchy guitars and light drumming. What happens next? Spanish guitar. Huh? Yep. I guess it really helps having a classically trained guitarist (and music major) in the group when you need something extra thrown in. However, this is just an interlude and it’s quickly bowled over by the return of the rest of the band then there’s the sweeping guitar solo four minutes in. So far, I’ve reviewed one track and there’s already a lot of progressive elements in it besides the inclusion of not-so-metal organs and spanish guitars. Pretty impressive first track for a debut.

The next track is a rollercoaster ride. One Man Parade varies between southern metal sludge and high octane power metal. Once again there are a lot more massive guitar tracks, solos, heavy blastbeats, time signature changes, death growls, and is closed with a giant drum breakdown. Track four is a complete beast. It’s a three part song spanning over eleven minutes of one of 2005’s best tracks. I can’t begin to fathom how many times I’ve listened to Elegy and every time, I’m moved. I dance, air guitar, air drum, throw up some invisible oranges, belch out some death growls, and just jam out. The first six or so minutes (5:49 to be exact) of the song, to me, are just incredible filler that I can pull off some sick air guitar solos to. The guitar riffs are great, varying pitch and tune with ease and panache. They’re polished, clean, and well executed. The drumming sounds like it’s being pumped out by a death metal veteran and not someone who’s probably younger than I am. Jon Wisdom’s singing (and lyrics) are moving and are a testament to the death growl. Fast forward about ten seconds and you get that piano interlude I mentioned earlier. This isn’t a cheesy breakdown to cool down a mosh pit, it’s entirely another song altogether and it’s incredible. Overall the music is so well done that I can’t find anything bad about it, all of it will shred your face.

Now, on to that whole “message” thing I mentioned earlier. As already stated, BTA are a Christian band and each song is in some way about God. And honestly, the lyrics are pretty powerful. The whole album follows a story everyone knows by heart: society has taken a dive into indulgence and evil which triggers the Apocalypse and the Second Coming of God. Track by track, the listener is taken on a journey from the collapse of civilization to the battle of Good versus Evil. Don’t believe me? Take One Man Parade for example. The song deals with the impending apocalypse, the dead rising, and Christians beginning to band together for the war. Still not convinced? Try the message in Elegy. The first part of the song is the only part with lyrics and they seem to describe a world eerily similar to the world we now live in. Nations around the world are collapsing from moral decay and decadence and no one seems to care. “We watch while sanity dies/Forever lost upon the Earth/Countless souls embracing condemnation/One by one marching to the grave/Into the mouth of ruin that feeds upon the damned and the deceived.” Whether you believe in God or not, those lyrics aren’t anything to sneer at. The story is pretty cohesive and kept together over the course of all eleven tracks.

Yes, this is extremely long but sometimes, you have to be long-winded. Overall, even before I met the band, I thought Becoming The Archetype were incredible and had something “special” going on in the band. Now having listened to their debut Terminate Damnation for the last ten months or so and then subsequently meeting the guys, I know that their upcoming album (soon!) will be aonther killer slab of progressive metalcore (Duck assured me of that!) and I don’t expect to be disappointed. Everyone I’ve played this album for has loved it so I’ll let their recommendations of “This rocks!” be the final verdict. Support bands that don’t suck.