2/17/24: Art of Being Human by Elyne
Today I rolled some metalcore and by the end it revealed to me some of my own listening habits. I really need to distinguish between background and listening music. For the first half of this album I was doing other things while listening, and I wasn't all that impressed but once I laid down and actually focused on it I enjoyed it quite a lot more, being able to pick up on more of the details. It's a bad habit of mine to assign music like this to the background, which artificially reduces my enjoyment of it.
First of all, the guitar work in this album is very impressive. The chuggy lines have some really interesting rhythms to them and the more conventional riffs in songs like 'Zenit' (which I also like for its pleasantly chaotic nature) work well with the overall mood. 'Outbreak' especially has a really good synergy between the riffs and the local lines, in both the verse and the chorus, which I think gives it a lot more energy in the rhythmic parts. I feel like a good deal of songs in more intense music like this struggle with that.
I think the balance between the screaming and the clean vocals in this album is pretty well done, not really overwhelming with the screaming or too basic with the standard singing. Breaks from the energy in '2am' are also appreciated, though the song itself really isn't that notable.
Finally, I like the addition of odd instrumentation in the final two songs and especially the piano/strings in 'Memento Vivere'. Also, No good album is complete without a random weird and/or creepy intro and 'Sweet Eternity' certainly delivers.
I have a feeling I'll keep liking this album more as I listen to it more. I, uh, probably won't keep you updated on that.
That's all! See you tomorrow for! Something!
