Friday, January 14, 2011

Veil Of Maya - 2010 [id]


Band : Veil Of Maya
Album : [id]
Release Year : 2010
Genre : Deathcore / Progressive

Tracklist:
 1. [id]
2. Unbreakable
3. Dark Passenger
4. The Higler
5. Martyrs
6. Resistance
7. Circle
8. Mowgli
9. Namaste
10. Conquer
11. Codex


The album was produced by Michael Keene, who also produced The Common Man's Collapse, and the sound is distinct VoM. Crushing tone and plenty of chugga-chug make for the classic VoM tone we all know and (perhaps) love. The production quality however is a bit better then their previous album - everything is mixed together much more nicely, and the vocals blend better with the music. Too many heavy bands today (and bands in general) put the vocals way out in the mix, and it becomes annoying and sometimes distracting to the sound of the band as a whole. The relationship and mix between the guitar and drums is very very tight, which is perfect for all of the off-time and odd-time breakdowns occurring throughout the record.
Vocalist Brandon Butler impressed me the most on this album. Although the guitar is usually the focus, and the guitar-drums combo make up the meat of the songs, Butler's rhythm and placement works great with the complicated prog breakdowns that are happening behind him, and his lyrics are awesome. They are mature, and really include material relative to the subject - this really is an ALBUM. All of the songs work well together, they all seem to portray the same idea, this discussion of the human psyche and the state it is in today.
Overall, I love the record. I for one am a huge fan of albums that sound like ALBUMS, not just a collection of songs, and [id] is pretty much that. However, I only have two complaints - the first being the shortness of the CD. It clocks in at only 29:09 with a total of 11 tracks. Related to that, I am left feeling a bit awkward by the musical interludes within the CD. The music within them individually is really cool, but I wish they blended better with the songs around them. I wish the band expanded more on the ideas, and didn't limit them to only one minute or so of interlude. If the band had only included the "song" parts of the album, we might be looking at a CD only 25 minutes long. Perhaps there's a bit too much filler in there.






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