After watching their promising first album become an unfortunate casualty of the Combat Records re-launch fiasco (the legendary label imprint was haphazardly revived in 2005, and was already defunct again by mid-2006), Austin, TX's
At All Cost took their cause to Century Media and tried to re-launch themselves via 2007's
Circle of Demons. And, even though the cover art and band photos involved would suggest a general dirtying up of their sound in order to fit in with their new extreme metal labelmates, the album shows that
At All Cost still produce wildly eclectic but oft-times accessible metalcore; replete with high-speed collisions between thrashing riffs and singalong melodies, too many vocal styles (dirty, clean, robotic) to be counted, and oddball time changes and genre-bending departures at every turn. The opening title track is the only one spared any of this funny business, but, ironically, it's also the album's least distinctive offering; so why begrudge the quintet's occasionally questionable forays into non-metal domains, when the ultimate goal is creating something original? Better to open one's mind to their positively awe-inspiring guitar work throughout (exhibiting a surprisingly sensitive touch on the intro to "Let It Rain Death (Blizzard of Snakes)"), clever/risqué integration of keyboard and synthesizers here and there (reminiscent, at times, of former Combat co-victims,
Horse the Band), and truly unexpected surprises like the string section coda for "We Won't Give In," and aforementioned robot vocals of "Leaving Forever." Hey, you simply can't please everyone all the time. With innovation comes inevitable polarization, but, as
At All Cost would probably tell you: better to risk alienation than wallow in stagnation. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia