Album Review: Be’lakor – “Of Breath And Bone”
After discovering that this was the album that rateyourmusic.com has rated as the best metal album of 2012 so far, I thought I’d take about 56 or so minutes and see what this beast was all about. However, my children had other plans. I have three of them and they REALLY wanted to go outside an play. The temperature was the typical Floridian late July 872 degrees Fahrenheit, and, unlike my children, who’d love to go out and play even if we lived on the surface of the sun, I was afraid I’d melt, as I start sweating profusely when the temp hits 60 Fahrenheit. So, my kids were gonna suffer… or be forced to endure almost an hour of Be’lakor.
My first impression of this album was that it hit very close to home. As soon as I hit play, the sound was that of a pre-teen saying “Daddy, when this is over we can go out and play basketball, right?” So, of course I connected to it. Then after a few very tasteful riffs that recall some of the better parts of Opeth and Katatonia, it leads into some In Flames worship before the singer (I assume it was the singer, although it sounded like an agitated 9 year old) belted out “Daaaaaaad, he hit me!!!!” followed by a slightly different vocal style that came back with “No I didn’t dad…. he won’t give me back my Pokemon cards” to which the other, in a show of vocal exercises previously unbeknownst to human kind replied “They’re not even Pokemon cards, stupid. They are Dragonball Z cards!” Then, after the vocal domination let up for just a little bit, I heard some nice musical dynamics followed by some death metal growling.
I’m not normally a fan of hyper melodic death metal, and am certainly not into the Gothenberg style, but this band has something very good to offer. When the vocals aren’t being dominated by seemingly whining children carrying on and the percussion doesn’t sound like toys being thrown against a wall in absolute disgust, you have something very nice here. If I were Be’lakor, I’d focus on those elements in the future. But having to hear lyrics like “Daaaaaad, tell him to stop” over a guitar solo is very sloppy.
Once the dance with this album was completed, it was then time to go outside and play. By then, the kids decided they wanted to play inside…. quietly. Go figure. Oh well, I just enjoyed Honduras’ upset of Spain on the soccer pitch.
Whatever happened to Šarūnas Marčiulionis?
