CHUGCORE EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: Allies to the Adversary – Deathbed [2015]
Artist: Allies to the Adversary
Album: Deathbed
Every night you get into bed, terrified of what awaits you when you close your eyes. Each morning you awake in a state of induced paralysis, increasingly unable to move your arms and legs, petrified with fear at the horrors that inhabit your subconscious. Every morning you’re able to—slowly, mind you—move your limbs and restore sensation to your skin, until one day you just can’t. You can hardly breathe, your lungs collapsing under the weight of the deadened flesh on your chest. Your own mattress and blankets have become your Deathbed—thanks to the terrors that inhabit your dreams: Toronto Titans, Allies to the Adversary. From the very second you let these juggernauts into your head, they unleash nothing but musical murder on your brain, assailing each thought with oppressive heaviness, rampaging riffs and barbaric, brutalizing breakdowns. These gentlemen have crafted an album that isn’t simply what nightmares are made of—it’s what gives nightmares nightmares of their own.
Deathbed is an instrumental melting pot of riff-driven death metal, frenzied deathcore and splashes of tasteful, catchy nu-metal all mixed together and finished with an atmospheric garnish. As such, each musician brings a different style and flair to the album with their varied-but-expertly-combined contributions. Percussionist Christian Moniz, for example, adds sheer energy by the ton, pushing Allies to the Adversary along with relentless fills, blast beats and groovy, kick-drum-filled patterns that only slow to crush the listener with enormous breakdowns that capitalize on his mammoth kick drum and dense, dissonant toms. “Brickyard,” along with the album’s lead single “Mara” are great examples of Moniz’s percussive expertise, as well as ability to work side by side with the low-strung, low-down-and-dirty grooves from bassist James Whiteman. Whiteman’s bass adds an extra oomph to Deathbed‘s low end that the listener might not need, but definitely want. Between Moniz and Whiteman, every breakdown is absolutely bone-busting and every lacerating blast beat hits like a .50 caliber shell. But Allies to the Adversary don’t let up there—as the assault continues with the enormous guitar work from Steve Palmer and Dom Mroczek. These two touch on everything from lethal, lurid deathcore, riff-packed thrash and death metal and beatdown-tinted nu-metalcore and hardcore stylings. “Lucid Dreaming” has it all—with influences that span the entire spectrum of heavy music. “Radiation” is another noteworthy track, in the sense that it sees Palmer and Mroczek stepping out of their comfort zone with over the top atmosphere and post-metallic stylings that circle the listener’s head like vultures just to come crashing down on them like atomic bombs. Mroczek and Palmer are as diverse as they are talented, either amplifying Whiteman and Montiz’s low end or soaring skyward with ethereal, lofty fretwork. Together, these four are masters of modern metal, sidestepping monotony with ease and refusing the let up on the listener during the entirety of the album’s run time.
Your nightmares are not only set in a horrifying, hectic scenario; they have a demonic, haunting voice as well—the voice of Austin Dasilva. Dasilva, plainly put, can do no wrong. His range—exemplified on “Lucid Dreaming” and “Overtaken”—ranges from Hellish depths to angelic, heavenly heights. However, that is where Dasilva’s similarity to anything angelic ends. His lyrics are horrifying, immersive tales of a subconscious gone wrong—bound to invade your brain and dwell there for days. Where his impressive range unlocks his entry into the listener’s mind, it’s his incredible patterning and marvelous stamina that force them to stay there, feeding off of the listener’s happiness. Assisted by a brilliant guest performance on “Anesthesia,” Dasilva bludgeons the listener into unconsciousness, rather than sedate them—as the types of terror that pour from his mouth are the things one would only experience in the worst night terrors.
Dasilva’s devlish vocals and insidious lyrics, teamed up with the little touches from Allies to the Adversary’s instrumental backbone, make Deathbed a true testament to deathcore. If the listener isn’t mesmerized by the great bulk of the band’s mastery, they will find solace in the surreal technicality defining the opening portion of “Mara,” or the Villains-esque effects and touches throughout “Lucid Living” and “Lucid Dreaming.” One those touches wrap their bony fingers around the listener, they will be hooked on the album’s hellish story and immersive atmosphere—as if it is a dream gone horribly awry from which they cannot wake.
Paralyzing, petrifying and punishing are all words that define the mastery behind Allies to the Adversary’s latest release. Deathbed is a dynamic, in-depth deathcore masterpiece that will have the listener’s head banging and mind melting before the first riff is even finished–and will surely rear its head again and again, not simply from replay button abuse, but as the soundtrack to the listener’s nightmares.
9.5/10
For Fans Of: Oceano, Falsifier, Rex, Dawning of the Inferno
By: Connor Welsh
