Artist: Death Of An Artist
Release: X (Album)
Release Date: 04/06/12
Clearly a band with a strong DIY ethic, Bournemouth’s Death Of An Artist decided to record their debut album with an organic, more natural live feel instead of using any studio trickery. And now it’s finished the band are releasing it off their own backs independently with no label backing. Making waves for a while now, ‘X’ comes highly anticipated from the melodic post hardcore five piece.
Firstly, considering all the money has come from the band’s pockets to record this album it sounds great. All those expecting their modest efforts will turn in anything lacklustre is in for a surprise. The riffs sound meaty and the drums pound with a healthy amount of eardrum bashing that could easily be mistaken for the work of some top dollar studio/producer.
The band wear their influences on their sleeves throughout the album and it’s not hard to spot the touches of the likes of Thrice and Alexisonfire on the likes of ‘Repulsa’ and ‘Deity’. While they produce some great results at times such as the sprawling epic closer of ‘Abuser’, this is also Death Of An Artist’s downfall. The album at times starts to feel very plodding and aside from piano interlude ‘Breather’, many of the songs seem to stick to the same chuggy guitar/shouty bit/whiney part template with very few moments that stick with you once the album has ended.
‘X’ is hardly a bad album and as far as debuts go, there is a lot on here for post hardcore enthusiasts to get their teeth stuck into. However, on the whole the album lacks a unique stamp from the band to mark them out from the crowd. Hopefully the album will prove to be a solid foundation on which Death Of An Artist can build on to add their own spin on the genre.
6/10
Reviewer: Gavin Lloyd
