Altars - Conclusions
Rating
RIYL
It PrevailsFor the Fallen Dreams
Hundredth
Release Date
06/05/2012
Label
Facedown RecordsTracklist
1. Red Brick Army2. Scum 2:44
3. The Coward
4. Portlen
5. Lower
6. Unknowing
7. Ryland
8. Montreal
9. Shepherds
10. Revelation
11. Realization
12. Conclusions
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Altars has had a respectable amount of success in their young existence. The Colorado Springs quintet formed in 2010, secured a record deal with Strike First Records only about a year later, and released an EP shortly thereafter. Another year passed and Altars was called up to the big leagues, earning a spot on the Facedown Records roster in 2012. Moreover, the band recently debuted their first full length album, Conclusions, which features a familiar, but competent style of melodic hardcore.
Let’s get the issues with Conclusions out of the way first; the main problem the release suffers from is uniformity. All the songs sound virtually the same, with the exception of the three brief instrumentals interspersed throughout the album. Speaking of the instrumentals, they are the second issue on this release. Altars had the right idea by trying to add some variety to the track list, but the short and hollow instrumentals are a half-assed way of doing it. The three tracks exemplify the phrase “filler material” and show a band struggling to find meaningful substance for their album. Lastly, Altars does a good job of not overusing breakdowns; however, the ones they do use are horribly boring. They need to take a few lessons from Misery Signals on how to get more bang for their buck out of their breakdowns.
Now on to the brighter spots of Conclusions; the most notable one is the passion Altars possesses. The screams are heartfelt and the aptly-used singing shows feeling behind the words being sung. “Scum” and “Conclusions” are good examples of both of those qualities, but there are numerous other instances as well. Ultimately though, Altars don’t do enough to separate themselves from the hoards of other bands playing the same style of music. Each member of the group is good at what they do and the songs are adequate, but being mediocre only gets you so far.
--Nicholas Fritz
Comments
Minnesota
Sounds like every other metalcore band out there right now. Facedown, like Rise, definitely has a defined sound. You could probably interchange 10 different Facedown bands and they'd all sound similar to Altars.
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