By The Patient

Servants

Written by: AP on 19/12/2010 15:32:33

As victors of the Danish Wacken Metal Battle, which earned them a treasure chest of opportunities including all expenses paid for recording their debut album as well as an esteemed performance slot at the mighty Wacken Open Air, By the Patient show no signs of dampening their ambitions. Showing promise already on their earliest demos, this quintet have their sights set high and a beast of an album in "Servants" as leverage. By the Patient are one of only a few Danish bands that have managed to shed the isolating impotence that plagues the nation's metal sound, sounding every bit as threatening and visceral as the international heavyweights in the genre.

By the Patient skillfully avoid the pitfalls of modern death metal, or deathcore, resisting the calling of breakdowns and daring to diversify their produce. "Aberration of the Hopeless" and "Altars of Infection" may tick all the stereotype boxes with thesaurus titles and walls of blastbeat, but for every instance of generic there is an element of surprise in progressive mastodons like "Dehumanized" and "Blood of the Martyrs Shall Cover the Earth". What separates By the Patient from most practitioners of this trade is that thanks to their songwriting prowess, the inclusion of a pronounced, soulful solo in "Manifesting the Cleansing", or a heap of radiant melody in "Constituted in Bloodshed", sounds like a genre staple. Amidst the droning ambiance of "Deciphered" one begins to wonder why the alleged proprietors of the genre forgot, or did not have the courage to, boldly venture into the unknown like By the Patient do.

Too often is the harvest in modern death metal an impenetrable maelstrom of opportunities foregone, resulting in albums that, to be plain, suck. Not so on "Servants". Even for someone as adverse to the genre as myself, the album is an enthralling listen and not the laborious effort one might expect. Unfortunately, and incredibly, By the Patient remains unsigned so their ascent to the big league is still pending, but believe me, bands as talented and proficient as By the Patient are few and far in between. "Servants" is an inspired piece of music and the mark of a band with the courage to unleash their entire repertoire of influences. As such, it stands in stark contrast with the fixation on excessive brutality that often governs the genre and provides some of the most interesting and varied death metal on the market. Why no label scout has managed to home in on this is a mystery, but as soon as the hype picks up overseas, we just might witness a coup d'état that leaves Job For A Cowboy without a crown.

8

Download: Dehumanized, Blood of the Martyrs Shall Cover the Earth, Manifesting the Cleansing, Luke 18:15-17
For the fans of: Annotations Of An Autopsy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Job For A Cowboy, Whitechapel
Listen: Myspace

Release date 18.09.2010
** Unsigned band **

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