NOCTURNE

Nocturne is the debut album from US metal act The Human Abstract. I´ve read a couple of reviews of Nocturne in different metal magazines, but to see them on Prog Archives is a bit of a surprise for me.

The music is very melodic and simple structured modern heavy metal. There are both screamo and clean vocals in the music. Frontman Nathan Ells is capable of both styles but his vocal style is not very distinct and sounds like the million of other bands playing the metalcore style. I read in one of the threads in the forum that someone said that metalcore is metal mixed with emocore and I can only join that statement. The music on Nocturne is filled with memorable and melodic choruses and more aggressive sounding verses. Melodic twin guitar harmonies ( there´s a very obvious neo-classical element in the music) and thrashy riffing. There are some unexpected shifts in rythm in some of the songs but the music is generally easy to listen to and at times very commercial. Just listen to the chorus in Self Portraits of the Instincts. That one just imprints itself in your mind after the first listen. Some find this charming, I find it annoying most of the time.

I was reminded of a pop version of Soilwork more than one time but The Human Abstract also sounds a lot like Avenged Sevenfold when they are most melodic. Trivium also comes to mind. The musicianship is excellent and we´re witness to some really well played songs seen from a technical view. There´s nothing new here but the level of musicianship is very high.

The production is very professional. It is clean and powerful.

Nocturne is not my cup of tea I´ll admit that. I´m having a hard time appreciating the emo element in their music which I find cheesy to say it out loud. When that is said Nocturne is a very professional album. The production, the compositions and the musicianship is all on a high level so I can´t give the album less than 3 stars even though this really doesn´t get any points with me personally.