Achilles
Hospice
6.9
Synopsis:
More Converge/Coalesce-lite...
Review:
The debut release The Dark Horse by Achilles was a no frills, 27 minute slab of staggering, jagged mathymetalcore, that neither overly impressed me or pissed me off; it was just solid. And now with the follow up, even with some fine tuning, Hospice is essentially more of the same, with maybe a bit more thought and melody.
While not as jarring a shift into commercial appeal as say The End or The Dillinger Escape Plan, there’s a definite attempt at something slightly less antagonistic and convoluted with more shimmering tones and a deeper sense of atonal, yet still harmonic stuttering as heard on the alter stages of “Curtains”, as well as “Dear Old Tyger That Sleeps” and “To The Teeth”. There’s even a very subtle nod towards a more experimental, restrained hues as heard on “Swallow” and closer “The Cold Floor” and I actually enjoyed the restrained lope of “Standing Night” like the band is flirting with a Cave In like transformation.
There’s still plenty of stuttering, angular riffs like “We Are Fixtures”, the direct “Raping the Dead”, “Reprieve” and “In These Stark Halls”, but nothing that comes close to the antagonistic lurch of say The Minor Times or The Handshake Murders. However, as with The Dark Horse, the album is over before it really gets going and the vocals are a by the numbers as it gets for the genre.
There’s tangible improvement to this album from the last, the next album might see Achilles make some noise and could envision a Time of Cholera shift into more post rock, expansive territory. I’ll keep an eye out.
Related
AchillesThe Dark Horse
11/26/2005