Beloved Album Review
I wrote a review on Beloved's new CD for the school newspaper. I'll post the ones I wrote for the other issues too once I remember to bring copies of them home so I can type them out.
Who: Five North Carolina natives who have made a name for themselves by blending emotion with pure, abrasive, hardcore aggression.
What: Their first full-length album, Failure On, is a masterpiece of melodic hardcore goodness.
Sample Lyric: With a fresh sense of purpose and direction / We cannot hide now from ourselves / In disguises all our own / Still we can't escape at all / We run from things that can't be seen / But if we would close our eyes . We would see the real threat against us / I will not run from this world.
Lots of bands have tried blending melody and hardcore. Not many have done it very successfully though. Few bands do it well enough to stand out. Luckily, for those who enjoy both beauty and brutality, there is one band that has accomplished what few others have been able to. This band offers both harmony and destruction--and both are done well. This band is Beloved.
Beloved is a five-piece band consisting of Dusty Redmon (guitar), Joshua Moore (vocals/guitar), Matt Harrison (guitar), Johnny Smrdel (bass), and Joe Musten (drums/vocals). Though the band has been playing together since high school, Beloved was first heard from in 2001 when they released The Running EP on Vindicated Records. Even though the disc only contains five tracks, it is an accomplishment in melodic hardcore. From the first chord struck, to the fade of the last song, The Running EP rocks in ways many band's full-length efforts never come close to. Needless to say, many people got excited over these boys from North Carolina, including the people at Solidstate Records. Beloved signed to Solidstate and in 2003 finally released their first full-length album, Failure On.
With three guitarists, Beloved can play intricate song arrangements like no other. They all have their own unique parts without creating anything so busy that is it distracting. Of course, having three guitarists pays off when they need to get heavy--and do they ever get heavy. Listening to Failure On is like being lulled to sleep by a quiet rainstorm only to be awakened by an especially loud clap of thunder.
durning any given verse, Moore's earnest vocals and poetically vague lyrics weave their way through intertwining guitars, all the while backed by solid rhythms and clean bass tone. Then, everything is kicked up a notch and the double bass pedals begin to pound and Joe Musten's low screams beat their way through the instrumentation. If you are in the pit during a Beloved breakdown, watch people proceed to die. If you are listening to the CD in your room, then try your best not to spin kick your stereo. That is how powerful the songs are.
The whole CD is really great and does a good job of keeping your interest too. Nothing gets boring. There is even one song that has no screaming at all, just to mix things up. All in all, this album is a great melodic hardcore disc. If you appreciate heavy music, but prefer things to stay a little more melodious, then this CD is perfect for you.
