My research into this band was fairly unsuccessful in revealing any kind of biography information but did unveil that they hail from Germany (I think) and that this is their fourth full length. I don’t know about you but I hate bands that have “The” at the start of their band name as it is a pain deciding which letter to file them under. Geek moment over and “Gathas” begins with typical metalcore acoustic styled melodies before “Avesta” opens with hardcore attitude on the vocals, similar to Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed, but musically this is firmly entrenched in metalcore which is fine by me so long as it doesn’t fall into the genres obvious pitfalls. There are plenty of choppy chug riffs and the inevitable breakdowns are ballsy and macho, just right for the hair salon pit boppers. The band has a penchant for using acoustic like melodies on the odd track such as “Plagiarism Commission” which also boasts!? clean vocals for that added accessibility.
Your detection of sarcasm is well founded as I found this album listenable just not enduring enough for me to say it stands out above the rest of the quiffed gayness this genre so often portrays. The length of this album is also surprising, approaching nearly an hour is bordering on requiring danger money. Nonetheless the hour passes by fairly quickly but would have benefited from purging a few tracks to maintain some momentum and power. “Our Notional Possession” caught my attention for having a much heavier angle with a huge beat down amongst the exceptionally heavy double bass kick that is added. There are some textural Cult Of Luna moments too which make the track a little different and more appealing.
“Convention And Predictability” begins with clean vocals (yawn!) and a slight industrial style which fades away leaving pure metalcore cleanliness. By the time “The Illicit Sound” appears my resilience is fading and is only bolstered by the sporadic heavy moments the band uses which are limited to double bass kick when the songs seem to be going nowhere. Occasionally there are traits of The Ocean (another band with The to start their name, is there a plague of The bands in metal these days or am I just paranoid as I sit here twitching), when the songs hit an angry yet hypnotic stance. There is little point me trying to identify distinguishable features of this album as I’m sure you’ve made up your mind already but in the run of things “Gathas” is competent and confidently matches any of the scenes top players.
http://www.destinyonair.com
http://www.myspace.com/destiny
