UNLEASH THE ARCHERS — Behold The Devastation (review)

UNLEASH THE ARCHERS — Behold The Devastation album cover

Album · 2009 · Melodic Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2020-11-11
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Unleash the Archers have just outdone themselves with an album that was unexpected even with the recent evolution in their style and sound. Abyss seems to be getting praise across the board, even though some people admit it took a few listens for them to really get into the album. Being familiar with the band's last three releases, I decided to delve back into their history and grab hold of the debut album, released back in 2009.

The original lineup of the band is quite different from the Apex and Abyss albums. The only two faces that have remained with the band since the beginning are vocalist Brittney Hayes (a.k.a. Brittney Slayes) and drummer Scott Buchanan. The other three members on the debut have since parted ways with the band, by now several years ago. Unleash the Archers are now known as a power metal band that occasionally employs death growls and screams (for the last two albums, these brutal vocals are used when portraying either the nemesis of the protagonist in the duology or the nightmare voices of the past in his head). The most recent release also sees the band using keyboards as a main rhythm and melody instrument alongside the guitars. But back in the time of the debut eleven years earlier, Unleash the Archers were more of a technical melodic death metal band.

The album begins right away with a fierce deathly bellow, placing emphasis on the death growls rather than Brittney's 4-octave power vocals. The music over the first there or four tracks is about 85% fast, precise and all-in-your-face technical death metal with notes and riffs flying at you left, right, and centre. Palm muted single notes and unmuted chords, solid and quick drumming, and fierce vocals offer no suggestion of the power metal to come. It's only in the latter half of the album that the melodies become more prominent, some of the riffs and melodies more Major than minor, and Brittney's vocals become the more dominant, though still without the dramatic expression she would develop later on.

In fact, it is in the second half of the album where the song writing and song structures tell us that this band has greater aspirations. The final two tracks introduce the earliest suggestions that this band could incorporate some power metal into their sound.

Independent of most of the rest of the band's catalogue, this album has the band sounding like a very competent and aggressive band whose focus is more on death metal than power metal. The biggest drawback to appreciating this album as an Unleash the Archers album is the quality of Brittney's vocal recording and delivery. For most of the album, she sings without her soaring high notes only landing a few in a couple of tracks. There are no power metal siren blasts at the start of songs and she doesn't affect that rasp as she did on some tracks of Time Stands Still. The production or mix of her vocals has her sounding like she's in a padded closet.

I read a couple of reviews that put down this album as lacking originality, saying some of the songs meander too much. I disagree. I find none of the songs too long and the change-ups in the music and are fast and attention-catching. Some fans of the newer material have mixed feelings about this piece of old historic relevance. Some don't like it. I have found it to be a curiosity with many sweet rewards. No, it doesn't come close even to their second, which already sees the band making a big change in musical direction, steering more towards the style that would be associated with their name. What we're looking at here is a tech melo death band that include a woman sharing the vocal duties. It's a pretty solid album in my opinion. It's fun to hear how this great band introduced themselves to the world!