Album Review: Code Orange - I Am King

Time for a new album review of an album that came out a couple of months ago already (I know I'm a bit late on this one but who cares). The new Code Orange album I Am King is a mix of metalcore and hardcore with a hint of sludge. The sounds are familiar to any fan of Converge as the album was released by Converge's frontman Jacob Bannon's own Deathwish Inc. and produced by none other than Bannon's bandmate, guitarist Kurt Ballou.

I came to I Am King completely blind (or preferably deaf), without knowing or hearing anything about the band and I was pleasantly surprised with the rich but raw guitar and bass sounds and some mindblowingly great production by mr. Ballou. The compositions instantly trigger memories of classic Converge albums like Jane Doe to my mind. The songs are heavy but also cleverly composed with unique twists throughout the album. Little things like tempo and time signature changes make things interesting for me in this album. Of course typical metalcore-breakdown riffing can be heard on I Am King but it's not abused too much in my opinion.

The vocals on this album are greatly performed by three of the band-members: drummer Jami Morgan and guitarists Eric Balderose and Reba Meyers. Their vocals range from screaming and shouting to spoken-word kind of muttering and even clean singing.

While Kurt Ballou did a great job engineering and producing this album it almost, just almost falls to the point of being overproduced, especially with the drum sounds in my opinion. The bass drum sounds really flat and lifeless, though that's what it's supposed to be like I guess. To me it just feels like a plug-in bass sound. More unique drum sounds could've made this album an even more enjoyable experience.

The overall energy of the album is ungodly big. Each song brings something new to the table, and that's saying a lot in genres like hardcore and metalcore which are filled with bands that copy each other to the grave.

Favourite songs: I Am King, Slowburn, Bind You
8/10

- Matti

New guitar cover up on youtube

Uusi kitaracoveri on katsottavissa ja kuunneltavissa youtubekanavallani

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New guitar cover is up for views and lisnenings on my youtube channel

- Matti

Catch of the year - Vuoden löytö

Tämän syksyn uskomattomin musiikkilöytö minulle oli jyväskyläläinen ∞ (lausutaan eight), joka yhdistelee post-rockin maalailevaa puhtautta ja post-hardcoren aggressiivisuutta - ja vielä suomeksi laulettuna! Bändin noin vuosi sitten julkaistu albumi Näyt Kauas on ladattavissa bandcampista (http://eightband.bandcamp.com/). Myös bändin aiempaa tuotantoa löytyy samalta sivulta.

Näyt Kauas on sekä musiikillisesti, että lyriikallisesti kaunista kuunneltavaa. Erityisesti minuun kolahti kappale Elä Sinä Minusta, joka alkaa hiljaisella introlla ja kasvaa seuraavaan kappaleeseen johdattavaan loppuun.

Elä sinä minusta 

huoli talven synnystä 

tampereen kohdalla. 

Riitteen muutosta järveen 

ovatko kaikki 

ennättäneet jo etelään 

Albumin toinen kappale Hetki Jolloin Emme Tienneet Mitään Toisistamme on selvästi post-metal -vaikutteinen ja jaksaa viihdyttää kuulijaa koko seitsemän minuutin keston.

Bändin lyriikat ovat ovelia ja saavat ajattelemaan niiden oikeata tarkoitusperää. Omien tulkintojeni mukaan lyriikoiden keskeisimpiin teemoihin kuuluu yksinäisyyden kuvaus. 

Odotan innolla mitä ∞ saa aikaan tulevaisuudessa ja suosittelen kaikille pienempienkin bändien tukemista. 

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My most unbelievable new discovery this fall was a band from Jyväskylä, Finland called ∞ (pronounced eight) which combines artistic purity of post-rock with the aggressive motion of post-hardcore - and they sing in finnish! Their album Näyt Kauas which was released a little over a year ago is available for download at bandcamp (http://eightband.bandcamp.com/). Their older works are also available on the site.  

Näyt Kauas (Finnish for You Appear Afar) is both musically and lyrically beautiful to listen to. Especially the track Elä Sinä Minusta (I wont be translating the names or the lyrics because they can have many meanings and i don't want to upset the band for translating their visions wrong) affected me greatly. The track begins with a quiet intro and builds up into an end which leads to the next track. 

lyrics for Elä Sinä Minusta: 

Elä sinä minusta 

huoli talven synnystä 

tampereen kohdalla. 

Riitteen muutosta järveen 

ovatko kaikki 

ennättäneet jo etelään 

The second track of the album Hetki Jolloin Emme Tienneet Mitään Toisistamme is obviously influenced by post-metal and it keeps the listener entertained for the whole duration of seven minutes. 

Eight's lyrics are genius and make the listener ponder about their real meaning. According to my own interpretation one of the biggest themes of the lyrics is solitude. 

I am eagerly waiting what ∞ does in the future and I deeply recommend everyone to support smaller bands.

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Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti