I always came to a realization that local bands are without a doubt the most excitable and exhilarating in the modern era of music. So many different genres and such in which this case the local music scene is getting more attractiveness and recognition than ever before. Today, we get to talk about Pennsylvania’s metal outfitters Traverse The Abyss and the latest offering of Smiling In The Suffering. To describe their sound is taking wide varieties of metalcore, heavy metal and some progressive undertones making this particular album a energized, entertaining and accessible pieces of music.
Stylistically, this band heavily relies on the metalcore era from 2004-2009 in which the genre back then was insanely popular when bands like Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red, Trivium and Demon Hunter were finding their footing, sound and experimented different soundscapes and gotten better progressively speaking overtime. These guys are not only talented in what they’ve created from a musical perspective, but rather exploring many hybrids of musical components and have unleashed tracks that are full of character, emotion and detail.
I will say the songs like Trainwreck and Nemesis for example almost gives it this Devil Wears Prada-esque sort of sound where the drums are heart-stopping, guitars are audible, bass tones are clear in the mix and vocally, the vocals performed by songwriter Eric Abyss has a dynamic vocal pattern where he is able to construct and create such a explorative pattern making his deliverance and visionary into pouring his intelligence is really awesome to hear throughout the entirety of this album. I did say upon the review that they’re primarily a metalcore band but they definitely have some heavy metal tendencies and arrangements upon the secondary half of the album in which this case they’ve magically pulled it off and accelerated very well. Smiling In The Suffering is only a glimpse from these Pennsylvanians and I’m looking forward to hear what they’ll create for future material.
Overall Score: 8.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
