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Ghostwatcher (2013) is the debut full-length album by US metalcore act Beyond the Shore. The band has one prior release in the form of an EP, The Arctic Front (2009). Metalcore bands and I have never been the best of friends, but every so often I get inspired to pull one from my list of promotional material and give it a chance. The latest of these is Beyond the Shore’s debut, whose striking cover art caught my attention. Obviously not the most legitimate reason for picking them over other metalcore bands I have on my review list but there you have it.
This may be why, as has happened before when I give a metalcore band a chance, that I’ve ended up getting burned. Beyond the Shore have produced an album here that is more tolerable than most albums from the genre that I’ve taken a dislike to, in that I’m able to get through it in one sitting without switching it off, but this may be more due to the simple fact that the album has a relatively short playing time of just 30:42. Their song-writing is the very much to the point style. They start up a track and get the job done without drawing it out, resulting in average track running times within the three minute margin. This is a positive quality of Beyond the Shore’s music. The issue with Ghostwatcher is not so much the style of the writing but the quality of the writing itself.
Simply put the album suffers from an issue of repetitiveness. The music fails to make a good impression due to sounding like the band is just rehashing the same ideas over and over again. No song is able to stand out like this because they generally lack even a little bit of identity to tell them apart. Actually it’s only really the interlude track Milestone that really stands out as being a bit different. That’s a big sign that a release has serious issues in my opinion. Everything else just sounds so mechanical and done so completely by the book that the album would have the same effect if you put any one song from it on repeat a few times. In short it’s boring rather than inherently badly played or anything like that. The vocalist is also a bit hit and miss with his delivery. The fully growled vocals are decent and he has a nice clean singing voice but like many metalcore vocalists he will insist on also deliver lines somewhere in between the two, which sound awful and forced to my ears.
Fans of the genre may find Ghostwatcher more to their taste, since the boring and repetitive issue is something that happens with a lot of metalcore and I, and such bands must be doing something right to some listeners’ ears. Ghostwatcher won’t be joining the exclusive club of metalcore releases that have made a positive impression on me though. The release has some positive features, so I think a fans only tier rating is fair. Better luck next time guys.
40/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/beyond-the-shore-ghostwatcher-t2919.html)