REVIEW: My Ransomed Soul – Trilateral [2015]
Artist: My Ransomed Soul
Album: Trilateral
Triangles give rise to the strongest forms and sturdiest structures nature has to offer. Whether it’s the fearsome notoriety established by the ever-daunting Bermuda Triangle or the steadfast icon of immensity and engineering provided by The Eiffel Tower, triangles are a brilliant source of resilience in a world loaded with strife–three equal forces acting in dynamic equilibrium to adhere in even the most adverse elements. All of this–things likely taught to you in your high school geometry class–serve as exemplary evidence as to why My Ransomed Soul have chosen the perfect name for their debut full-length album, Trilateral. Trilateral is the stunning result of careful construction–an amalgamation of the band’s three marvelous facets: passion, power and prudent technicality. These three elements intertwine and meld to create one of metalcore’s most sound and solid releases to date.
The first thing that strikes the listener is Trilateral’s terrific power–a punishing penchant for heaviness that beats at the listener’s ribcage like a four-armed boxer. From the very first jarring snare crack of “Rise” and through the chugged out insanity that concludes “Revolt,” Trilateral’s reign of terror is the product of a careful combination of percussionist Fredy Menjivar’s fervor and guitarists Garrison Frey and Hector Fernandez’s furious fretwork. Moments like the anthemic breakdown in “Monarch,” or the opening blitzkrieg in “Rise” are testaments to the trio’s propensity to pulverize the listener with intense, heavy breakdowns. Menjivar’s manic drumming drives Frey and Fernandez’s filth-covered chugs into the listener’s head like a hammer smacking nails into a coffin; creating murderous heaviness that seals the listener’s fate without remorse or relent. Even the slightly ethereal “Rehab” and “Revive” indulge the listener with instances of insidious heaviness, sneaking sinister chugs and speedy fills into a mix of hyper-melodious chords and heartfelt harmonization.
My Ransomed Soul’s power gives way to the second element in their tremendous trifecta: technicality. Guitarists Frey and Fernandez sneak in incredible riffs, grotesque grooves and marvelous melodies where the listener least expects them–just as Menjivar is never afraid to throw in a magnificent fill or a tidal wave of splashy cymbals to highlight the moments of particular beauty with which Trilateral is rich with. “Rise” gives this element away early on, crushing the listener with a bouncy breakdown that is quickly overtaken with brain-boiling fretwork; just as “Inundate” opens with a spectacular percussive showcase that spirals into a bouncy, fun groove that kicks the song off with all cylinders firing. Trilateral carries on this way–a sturdy scaffold of magnificently written metalcore heaviness, inhabited by ghouls and goblins of grotesque brutality or gut-wrenching, twisting-and-turning technicality that almost always catches the listener off guard, making even My Ransomed Soul’s most mundane moments glitter as if they were crafted from gold.
The last bastion of Trilateral‘s namesake rests upon the shoulders–and in the lungs and throat–of vocalist Brendan Frey. Frey makes up for what he lacks in vocal variety with superb endurance and second-to-none lyricism, making My Ransomed Soul not just punishing or technical, but passionate as well. “Rehab” is one of Frey’s most intimate examples of incredible lyricism, dealing with issues of inadequacy and addiction. “Reflection” shines under a similar spotlight, as Frey lets loose with some of his deepest and innermost fears win a harsh, bitter bark. “Monarch” sees My Ransomed Soul under a different light, however, as Fernandez lets loose with an immense series of groove-tinted, dissonant riffs while Frey attacks issues of political propaganda and social injustice with iron nails and diamond teeth, ripping flesh from the listener’s ears in the process. While all of Trilateral‘s instrumentation is lively, it is Frey’s hefty, heart-felt vocals that give them true life, allowing them to spring alive and slither into the listener’s ears like the serpent that defiled Eden.
To call Trilateral simply “sturdy” would be an injustice akin to those Frey illuminates in “Monarch”: Trilateral is simply magnificent. My Ransomed Soul have created a heavy, hectic and heartfelt display of metalcore mastery that will claim more lives than the Bermuda Triangle and outlast the iron lattices of The Eiffel Tower with ease.
9/10
For Fans Of: Prime Meridian, For Today, Impending Doom, Like Moths to Flames
By: Connor Welsh
