This band places heavy emphasis on the "core" aspect of the "Sumeriancore" pseudo-genre. Almost all of the bands on this Southern California label combine hardcore breakdowns, guttural death metal vocals, post-hardcore/emo shrieking, technical death metal guitar solos, and judiciously deployed keyboards into a swirling, staccato assault that's pretty hard to take if you're older than 25. Some of the label's best acts, like
the Faceless and
Born of Osiris, are genuinely progressive, moving metal in the direction of extreme instrumental skill and compositional complexity. Others, like
Circle of Contempt, do the same thing, just not quite as well. The songs here are somewhat disjointed -- the parts seem like parts, rather than sections of a seamless, thoroughly conceptualized whole. The drum sound is extremely processed and triggered, sounding like a machine, but not in a good way. The guitar solos are admittedly pretty sweet -- there's one on "Nothing Imminent" that's like a cross between
Meshuggah's Fredrik Thordendal and
Rush's
Alex Lifeson, and that's not a bad thing at all -- and there are some entertaining samples of sci-fi/political conspiracy theorizing sprinkled here and there. But overall, this is the kind of second-tier album that emerges when a sound becomes excessively codified and defined. It's unlikely to bowl anyone over, though it's enjoyable enough in parts. ~ Phil Freeman