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Anterior

This Age Of Silence

Written by: PP on 22/06/2007 20:32:10

In the words of Metal Blade's UK representatives, Anterior kind of just appeared from the middle of nowhere. With absolutely no other musical background than their own band, the Welsh guys have just unleashed a metalcore release ready to push Bullet For My Valentine off the throne of Welsh metalcore, contesting the greatness of albums released by All That Remains and Darkest Hour in the last two years. "This Age Of Silence" blends the relentless riffs and technical metalcore of the prior with the instrumental virtuoso and sense of melody of the latter together flawlessly. Dear readers, what we have in our hands here might be the best metalcore release this year.

The introductory track "Ghosts Of Dawn" defines what is to come with some solid metalcore riffing, slowly building up to a chilling melody before the best song, "The Silent Divide" continues directly from the song with a killer hook and a solid "YEAAAAAAAAAH" scream from frontman Davies. Together with the layered lead/rhythm guitar he draws an almost identical parallel to All That Remains' "This Calling" from their latest album, though this feeling only lasts for a few moments in the beginning of the song.

Technical solos are scattered all across the album, but especially worth mentioning is the dual-guitar assault on "Human Hive", that brings cold chills down your back, and the Gothenburg-metal style scales racing up and down on "Scar City". Anterior doesn't spare solos in other songs either, and overall, they are all original and well crafted, and jaw-dropping in complexity and speed.

In short, "This Age Of Silence" excels at all aspects of metalcore. The vocals are screamed out but stand grand above the instrumental work, which has been precisely recorded and every note and pick is clearly audible despite the thundering riffs and blast-beat drum pounding on the background. It falls a little bit short on brutality in comparison to All That Remains, but builds on top of Darkest Hour's masterpiece "Undoing Ruin" in terms of melody and inescapable soloing. Get this record, you won't regret it.

Download: The Silent Divide, Days of Deliverance, Scar City
For the fans of: Darkest Hour, All That Remains
Listen: Myspace

Release date 18.06.2007
Metal Blade
Provided by Target ApS