Inked In Blood
Lay Waste The Poets
4.5
A couple of months ago, I gave a listen to a disc called The Years To Come from a relatively young metalcore band by the name of Nodes Of Ranvier. It wasn’t an extraordinary release by any means, but it did succeed in separating itself from the pack through some interesting twists on an otherwise overdone formula. When I saw that Nodes’ label mates on Facedown Records, Inked In Blood, had a new CD scheduled for release, I had hoped that they would take the same route, expanding on the general expectations for metalcore in order to create something a bit more interesting.
No such luck. Inked In Blood’s first full-length release, Lay Waste The Poets, could very well be the epitome of generic. I can name about a dozen local bands from my city and the surrounding area that sound exactly like Inked In Blood; the only real difference between them is the record deal. I honestly can’t figure out what distinguished Inked In Blood enough to get them signed.
All the hallmarks of metalcore are here: the chugs, the half-assed Swedish melodies, the “pummeling” breakdowns, and the contrast of the harsh screams and clean singing. They even throw in a token acoustic track in “Frame Thy Fearful Symmetry” (sadly enough, one of the stronger offerings). In fact, the only way in which they stray from the traditional metalcore formula lies in the length of the songs. Instead of the standard three-minute anthems, many tracks exceed four-and-a-half and even five minutes, which turns getting through a full listen into a chore. I think I would have preferred reviewing something that was obviously poorly played and painful to listen to – at the very least, it would have been able to keep my attention. With Lay Waste The Poets, I could barely concentrate on the music because it consistently degenerated into background noise. The production doesn’t help matters, either. The instruments all came through clearly enough, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was just something off on all of the songs, something that put a damper on the energy. Then again, that may well be a consequence of how the songs themselves were written.
It’s albums like Lay Waste The Poets that make metalcore as hated as it is, and perhaps rightly so. For every All That Remains, there are ten more bands like Inked In Blood that write music which lacks ambition, originality, and any vestige of lasting appeal – three of the things that make heavy music so fun to listen to in the first place.
