Some people claim to be sick of metalcore, mainly those old time metalheads that have seen as some of their favorite bands disappear of the mainstream metal media, giving way to a new generation of metal bands that mix hardcore and heavy metal.
Well, Hell Within is one of those good examples that in any new genre or subgenre there is talent, it doesn’t matter if you like the way they play their metal or not, you still have to recognize that Asylum of the Human Predator is a tight, catchy metal album.
Let’s begin with the negative: their clean vocals really need some work, it sounds as if they can’t reach the tunes they want to perform, and they end up sounding a bit forced and sterile… that’s pretty much for the negative side of the album.
If you don’t like metalcore, this album is not going to change your mind, but it is going to make you think (let’s hope!) and maybe reconsider the genre since the album has some great passages in which the guitars display a good complexity and “groove”.
Their hardcore vein can be found in pretty much every song, but is in “Merchants of the Blood Trade” that you can really tell that this guys like hardcore and where influenced by it.
After many spins, the album begins to grow on you, the riffs begin to get clearer and the drums just sound better and better…the clean vocals can still improve, but you won’t mind this since there is a song like “Self-Inflicted Silence” definitely the best track on the album, catchy lyrics, great tempo changes and a demolishing drum work, maybe it will remind you a little to what The Haunted use to sound like in their earlier works.
This is an album for those of you that don’t believe on the talent behind a metalcore band, so if you want to just have a good time listening to catchy riffs and easy to follow song structures then give the album a change.
