‘The Path’ is the third album by this 15 year old Hamburg based band from Hannover. While they may have started out as a hardcore/metalcore band, they have matured into a far more melodic death outfit but occasionally harken back to their roots.
“New Shores” opens without much fanfare and goes straight for the jugular. Christoph Schiming pounds away at the drums with complex triplets being kicked all the while, as Jan Röhrs and Tim Piotraschke alternate between playing rhythms and harmonies on their guitars with Timo Bähling swapping comfortably between low growls and raspy screeches and Julian Tamke filling out the sound with solid bass thumping.
Keeping up an unrelenting pace, “Braving the Waves” finally slows down a little towards the end to give Timo a chance to do some clean vocal before blasting straight into “The Farewell” which ends on some bitter-sweet sustained melodies.
A very Gothenburg style is employed on “In the Midst of Doubt” with very quick sharp guitar rhythms bleeding into solid leads.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you thought “Kissing the Flames” was a ballad from the outset, as it slowly builds the gentle guitar picking with layers of drums, vocals and distorted rhythm guitar and keeps the picking constant as the distortion kicks in on that guitar too.
A similarly steady paced “Thrilled” is kept dynamic by the intricate fills on both drums and guitars which carry over onto the intro to “Priorities” before it picks up the pace but uses more melody than aggression to deliver its punch.
A great choppy drumming on “Deception” keeps it really upbeat but on “Heritage” it’s oppressive instead when combined with the deeper vocals and much heavier guitar sound.
“Reign of Malice” is another really fast song where the guitar changes are almost as fast as those of the drums with the vocals being rapidly spat out.
Final track “The Day” is succinct and has such a snappy snare sound that it cuts through the guitar and vocals like a scalpel and actually leaves your ears ringing as it suddenly ends.
I enjoyed this album as it’s solidly and very competently played with plenty of melodies to temper the overt aggression you can feel running just below the surface.
(7/10 – Marco Gaminara)
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