The Unravelling : Tear a Hole In the Collective"

Drawn into the "Revolt" single they offered up last year, I was more than curious as to how the project would fare on a full length. A few things have changed here as this project continues to progress. Which benefits them as no one wants to hear the same album made twice.vocals in the verses remind me a little more of Killing Joke. The beats on this song have more of an electronic pulse than what we have heard previously from the band, who had a more slight commercial hard rock edge at the fringe that an Tool influence might provide. The vocal layers are well thought and smartly placed. They find a much more industrial pound on "Lucky Me" . They vocals are once again well placed around the swirl of guitar swarming over the programmed patter of the drums. The title carries a throb that is a few shades darker as the vocals form a more militant chant around it. They display the range of dynamics they are capable of by dropping back into a cyber-ballad, with Cure like guitar painting the atmosphere in the foreground.This does build up as even the more subtle moments are trying to repress their anger. "the Fearless Seed" opens with an almost darkwave synth pulsing. The song gradually builds from their. The vocals provide a harmonized plea to change how we treat nature and the world around us through veiled metaphor. The line " human being doing face your ghost" reminds me of a quote from the book "Conversation with God". The social commentary continues and you begin to find yourself becoming more keyed in on the lyrics as the album takes you down its rabbit hole.

"Enough is Enough" has a similar brooding to the previous song, though drums feel more organic feel and the lyrics read like the headlines of Cnn.com, the line "beautiful actress/ famous in hell" caught me. While there is a dense chug to the guitar of "Master Drone" a single released earlier this year, more metallic moments are the exception to the rule, but provide a more intense dynamic to set the other songs against. The song does build into a slinky groove that has a hook to it. In the past some of their work might have come closer to prog rock, here it is clearly more rooted in electronics, but not at the sake of leaving the guitar behind. The effect guitar shimmering behind the beat might bring to mind some of Nine Inch Nails more introspective moments. "Revolt" makes a return here and the new songs sit well against it.


 The album closes out with "We Have No Problems" which starts off as one of the album's heavier songs and then ebbs backs into ambiance with clean delayed out guitar shimmering over the heavier riff which sets back in the background to provide more of a looming vibration, before they build it back up again. This is the first song where the singer takes on a throatier roar, while by metal standards it's far from a death metal growl and might be relatively tame to younger ears, it gets the job done here, much in the same way Killing Joke employs huskier vocals to build things up on their post-80s work.Get a taste of the album below as it is highly recommended to those who like industrial trappings to their progressive hard rock, in the same zip code at times as Stabbing Westward just without the goth like elegance or arena rock chords on the choruses. There is nothing else like this coming out these days so if you were into ' Dredg and A Perfect Circle's darker side or mid-period Nine Inch Nails, where industrial was just one of the genres of rock dipped into rather than pulling of chaotic machinations like Skinny Puppy, then this is well worth your time.