Another metalcore band. On my initial listen, I didn't think too much of this band. I just thought they were average. I thought everything about this album was average, except for the artwork/photography and the album jacket...one of the best I have ever seen. The Judas Cradle has been around since 2001. They used to be under the name The Common Man the year before that. They play a brutal but sometime overly used style of metalcore. It can get mundane and just tiresome after a while. I found myself yawning on the initial listen through. I decided to give it a second chance about a week later and I actually was pretty impressed. I think that this band can be an up and coming force in the metalcore scene but this album was just missing too much to push it over the edge into greatness. I think the recording quality was their main downfall. It lacked passion and clarity. I think I would have liked this album a lot more if I could hear the guitars and drums but the vocals seem to overtake everything. This wasn't in every song though. Some songs seem to have the perfect blend of all the instruments and vocals. I think the perfect sound of a vocalist is to make the listener think that you are right in their face at a live show...full of passion and adrenaline. Stop the death metal growl.
Overall I think that this band can be special but the recording side of their band needs improvement. The metal riffs are definitely above average as well as the drums but they both need to be exploited a little better. This is a good album but not a great one. For Zao to Slayer to Coalesce to Converge.
2/4
