COLORS

Honestly, I don't like most of this album. That doesn't mean, though, that I can't try to appreciate the creative spirit behind it.

This is not really my scene, musically speaking. But someone showed me the hoedown at the end of Ants of the Sky, and I suddenly became very interested. Creativity and an adventurous spirit make or break an album for me, and both are highly present here. Little odd sections here and there, like the aforementioned hoedown, break up the monotony of spastic guitars and repetitive growls. A few clean choruses add in some actual melody, and Viridian adds some gentle beauty.

The band is very talented, do not doubt that. The guitarists fly and flail on those strings in a way that doesn't sound safe to stand near. The drummer proves some incredible abilities in a very consistent manner. I've also been led to believe that there are a bassist and a keyboardist in the mix somewhere, too, but I wouldn't know that just by listening to it. Compositionally, the songs are complicated and deep, with tricky shifts from syncopation and riffs. The transitions between the song really do make this flow pretty cleverly into one hour-long suite of music.

The problem with Colors is maybe one of taste, in a way. To me, much of the album is very repetitive and monotonous. From the growls that are all in the same pitch and manner and often in the same rhythm, to the breakdowns and heavy-as-possible riffs, this album ends up to me to be a good example of the idea of too much of a good thing. What's cool for the first few songs gets terribly old by thirty minutes in. The clever (and admirably progressive) breaks in the flow of pure metalcore menace help, though.

All told, apparently this music appeals to a lot of people. People must like that kind of repetition of style, that kind of comfortable mess of heavy. To those who are looking for melody with their heaviness, it would be wiser to stick with Opeth or a band more along those lines. If melody is secondary to brutality, go ahead.