Album DescriptionAvailable in:
"Matriarch" is the fifth studio album by American metalcore band Veil of Maya, released May 12, 2015 on the Sumerian label. It is the band's first album with vocalist Lukas Magyar. The album was produced, mixed and mastered by Taylor Larson of From First to Last.
User Album Review
The most disappointing thing about Matriarch stems from its near abandonment of their unique sound. If you were to play someone a Veil of Maya song from a past album, when the melodies kicked in you could usually tell exactly who the artist was – and that’s somewhat rare for metalcore bands. The guitar melodies in use here are also used by tons of other bands, and although Veil uses them well here, they don’t blend them with their own signature melodic stylings often enough to remain interesting all of the time. Eclipse showed a band that was maturing and getting closer to achieving a truly great version of a sound they had been advancing for years. Matriarch drags enough of that sound to the sidelines to be disappointing in that respect
It’s good to focus on what we do have, though: Matriarch is a more-than-competent album that takes the structural maturity Veil of Maya has been establishing over the years, outfits it with a largely new sound focused on melody and beauty, decorates it with powerful screams and gorgeous clean singing, and coats it with a fresh layer of breakdowns and grooves. Despite the fact that it borrows some of its melodic ideas from other contemporary bands, the sound it yields is still unique. I expect the album to be verbally destroyed by metal purists and some disappointed fans, but listening a few times with an open mind may yield something more than just hatred. It may yield…fun. Reviewed by Daniel Davis for sputnikmusic.com.
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments