Signal The Firing Squad Abnegate RTD Records Release Date: Out now Review By: Munky
‘Abnegate’ is the second studio album from Australian deathcore’s SIGNAL THE FIRING SQUAD and on the surface it seems to be a definite improvement in quality from their last offering, but with not a great deal of variety. With the harsh and abrasive vocals, bass driven riffs and the blast beats to end all blast beats, these guys smash you with was absolutely enough for me to give this album a second, third and fourth listen and I’m glad because it took a couple of listens to actually get into it. Once I had done those initial yards, though, I enjoyed ‘Abnegate’ all the more and it became apparent that the album had a subtlety about it that made each track different to the last, while still sticking to the same basic bass driven core formula overall which I don’t believe you notice right away. There is melody and a freshness that steps away from the standard stale core formula and, in my opinion, changes the game.
There are also two instrumental tracks provided on this album that you can mark down as being proof again of just how different SIGNAL THE FIRING SQUAD are to the average. Track 4 ‘Pillars of Creation’ is one that begins a little slowly though, and with a minute and a half to provide an insight into the meaning of the track here it just never gets going. In my opinion it merely fills time as a standalone track. It is heavy and driving though with a melodic riff played over the top and seems to have made the cut on the album to simply break things up a little bit. But as it then quickly transitions into the bollocking track 5 ‘Bloodlines’ it all begins to make perfect sense and in fact ‘Pillars of Creation’ actually behaves as an intro to it. Quite impressive.
The other instrumental is the final song on the album ‘Synapse Failure’ and it provides quite an appropriate and heavy bass filled outro to ‘Abnegate’. Also, and it may just be me, but it seemed like a part two for earlier instrumental track ‘Pillars of Creation’ which tied the entire album together fantastically and gave me the sense that SIGNAL THE FIRING SQUAD had carefully thought this album through.
It DID take a few listens for me to get into this album and enjoy it though, but enjoy it I do! I find ‘Abnegate’ to be a subtle and well thought out release that certainly steps away from and makes an improvement to the genre of deathcore as a whole. If you enjoy SUICIDE SILENCE, WHITECHAPEL or deathcore in general then this album is definitely for you.
7 starsSignal The Firing Squad http://signalthefiringsquad.bandcamp.comRTD Records http://www.rtdrecords.com/
theartdepartau 