| When I first heard demos off of At All Cost's "Circle of Demons" I was most certain
I was going to despise the new effort. I thought for certain the band's dirty southern
influence was going to mix too much with that of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster or
even He is Legend. But I was fully wrong. "Circle of Demons" proves to be a much more
original piece than both of those albums combined. They manage to invent an entirely
new face to their music that triumphs infinitely over their older more stereo-typical
sound. Past fans of this act that heard this band for the scene metallers they were
with their As Cities Burn-esque tracks mixed with the vocoding of The Rise mixed may
fully disown this band for their new sound. But with styles and trends flowing out
the window as fast as they have been doing as of late, it only works to the band's
advantage.
With "Circle of Demons" the band trades in trendy guitar riffing for actual musicianship
on guitar (as heard in the opening as well as title track "Circle of Demons.") The
arpeggios represent a bit of At All Cost's trend awareness, but don't draw too much
from the originality of this album. In some tracks you can fully procure Clutch's
influence and in others you can picture A Love Ends Suicide in a tri-team dual with
Skyeatsairplane and Everytime I Die. For those that still claim At All Cost to be
playing 'metal by numbers' check out the jazzy interlude at the end of "Let it Rain
Death (Blizzard of Snakes)" because the cleverness of that interlude alone should
take care of any accusations right away. Later in the album, At All Cost visit the
previous vocal stylings heard on their past EP in the track "Ride Through the Storm,"
which might have metalheads instantly clicking the seek button, but could bring light
to fans of At All Cost's previous work.
At the end of the day At All Cost are still an extremely catchy vocoder using metal
act. They take a new approach on their CM debut earning the label the subtitle "Diversity
in Extremes," and they leave nothing off the record in terms of clever ideas that might
not fit all of their fans expectations. Right off the bat past fans might not be into
the change in sound for the album, but the second half of the album displays the group
reverting to their past sound that many fell in love with. Tracks like "We Won't Give
In" display an extremely epic and absolutely inspiring side to the group as they
implement the use of strings in their recording. Other tracks such as "Step One"
completely cut loose and display the completely extraordinary skill held in the hands
of guitarists Trey Ramirez and Michael Carrigan Throeald. If you're open to a new
sound of metal than I urge you to check out "Circle of Demons" as soon as possible,
just don't expect everything to fit in with your everyday gothenberg rip off band.
~ Drew
August 08 2007 |
