AS THEY BURN – Will, Love, Life

Label: Victory Records

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Rating: 9/10

Reviewed by: Mike Hubbard

One of the latest bands signed to Victory Records is hardcore quintet As They Burn from Paris, France.  Their first release with Victory is Will, Love, Life, and it does not disappoint.

Victory promotes As They Burn as being similar to Emmure, Meshuggah, Chimaira, and Gojira.  From the opening song, “Medicine 2.0,” the comparison to Emmure is evident.  Both the death growl of Kevin Trevor and the ever present double bass blasts of Milton Bakech throughout the album constantly bring to mind the brutal attack of Emmure.

The second song, “Origin,” has a hint of Meshuggah with the odd time signatures, but As They Burn never takes liberties with time signatures to the extent that Meshuggah does.

The album continues with more death metal inspired hardcore, mixed in with catchy riffs, sing along choruses, and challenging lyrics, showing that they have more musical and lyrical range than the typical death metal band.

As one would expect, breakdowns are in abundance on Will, Love, Life, with perhaps the best example on the fourth track, “The Conscious Man.”

The album closes with “Sons of Shiva,” which appropriately combines all of the aforementioned music elements to tie up the album in a neat package.

All told, Will, Love, Life is an outstanding effort from As They Burn.  You won’t find any groundbreaking musical innovations here, but you will find an example of head banging hardcore death metal that will leave you looking forward to what the future holds for this up and coming band.

https://www.facebook.com/astheyburn

Category: CD Reviews