Review of Symphony In Peril - The Whore's Trophy

Being a Christian band, I thought it was unnecessary for these guys to cuss in their album title, which sounds more like a black metal release than a hardcore album. And although Symphony In Peril will probably be tagged primarily as a Christian hardcore band, they do have a serious metal side that will kill you.

The only thing holding Symphony In Peril back, is that there are so many bands playing this style nowadays from Bleeding Through to Every Time I Die to Unearth, as originated by bands like Converge. The fact that the band has a Christian message does individualize them, however, and some pretty decent music keeps their head above water.

Call it metalcore, math metal, whatever you want, these guys know how to do it. And they do it ripe with complex song structures, off-tempo rhythms and great one-second-we’re-hardcore, next-second-we’re-metal time changes. Symphony In Peril just plain get brutal whether blast beating, playing fast black metal parts, or churning out some of the sickest, slowest breakdowns intended to wreak havoc on the dancefloor. Their music also gets very melodic at times, which does not appear in every song, thankfully. It’s not unlike what bands such as Bleeding Through do, incorporating melodic metal elements, some annoying clean singing here and there, and even some emo-sounding influence. The acoustic guitar makes an appearance on a few songs here as well.

With the complexity of their song structures, it does make it hard to remember different songs and being able to distinguish them. A lot like Unearth and Dillinger Escape Plan, their songs are mostly comprised of different parts put together which takes time to become familiar with. Symphony are at their best during their most hardcore of times, especially in tracks like “Stileto” which features just brutal, brutal breakdowns as one would expect from a Facedown band.

Symphony In Peril are certainly among the best in this new school metalcore/math metal/noisecore genre and are deserving of their hype in the new facially pierced, dyed black hair, medium T shirt, retro spiked belt wearing crowd. It’s their lack of originality and trendiness of musical style that makes me question how long the hype will last.

Release Details

Symphony In Peril

The Whore's Trophy

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