REVIEW: Before The Prophecy – [Collapse] [2013]

Artist: Before The Prophecy

Album: [Collapse]

Preview / buy: Bandcamp

Are you a fan of exploding drumming, head splitting riffing, and aggressive vocals? Perhaps you would like some occasional melodics and shredding guitar grooves to go along with that? Though these musical elements are nothing new and pretty much define every band that dares to label themselves as ”Metal”, the debut EP ”[Collapse]” from Michigan Metal band Before The Prophecy incorporates said elements exceptionally well. As far as genres go, I find it hard to put a label on this album, as it has an equal amount of Metalcore, Deathcore, Death Metal and Hardcore influences. Since genres serve as nothing more than getting a general idea of how a newly discovered band sounds like, and is relevant to your interests or not, I’m not going to sit here and try to explain it to you in text form, just know that if you are a fan of metal in general, you should give ”[Collapse]” a listen, and when you do, don’t be surprised that you will instantly fall in love with it.

When the intro track ”Asphyxia” starts, it does an amazing job in getting you pumped up for the main event, as the extremely moshable riffing with a slight hint of melody in the background serve quite nicely as a precursor of what ”[Collapse]” has to offer, but this is not the complete package yet. The following song ”Benson” continues in the same manner and it is here that the punishing drumming will become more noticeable, which is definitely one of the strong points of this EP. Another thing that adds to the unrelenting but somehow comprehensible wall of sound are the vocals, which are anything but a one-track effort and are the icing on the cake, bombarding your ears with angry and raspy growling, demonic screeches and the occasional Hardcore screams. The extremely likeable drumming and riffing create a constant line throughout the Album, but underneath that and the melodics, also expect some dissonant chaos being thrown at you, as can be heard on ”Dragon Tails”, one of my favorite tracks from ”[Collapse]”. some of the better guitar work can be heard on the following ”Revisions” with a solo somewhere in the middle that is cut short (unfortunately), and some underlying shreddage throughout the song. The EP goes out strong with ”Gas Chamber Fiesta”, another favorite track of mine, the drumming and grooving guitars that can be heard in the beginning create a bulldozing intro. With a overall FILTHY sound this song guarantees fun for the whole family, so if you have been sitting still until now, now would be the time to put your party shoes on and start tearing shit up!

When discovering a new band, love at first sight (or hearing in this case) is a very important factor for me, ”[Collapse]” has this factor. Before The Prophecy has made a very likeable and solid debut release that nullifies all weak points the Metal genre may have. With plenty of layers in the music, ”[Collapse]” demands multiple listens for you to be fully immersed in the atmosphere, and thats not hard to do since the EP is relatively short with a playtime of just 20 minutes. In my opinion it could have used an extra track that focussed more on the instruments, such as showing off the drumming and shredding guitars in a lenghty instrumental song, expanding the duration in the process, but thats all a matter of personal opinion. The EP is completely free so there is absolutely no excuse to not listen to this, I suggest you go do so right now and be prepared for a steamrolling and enthralling listening expierence.

Rating: 8.8

For fans of: 7 Horns 7 Eyes, Carthage, Arise The Titan, Within The Ruins