Becoming The Archetype – Dichotomy
For almost a decade, Becoming The Archetype has been spreading their unique message of Christianity through three (not including the albums under their old name The Remnant) albums, garnishing critical acclaim and praise from both religious and secular metal fans. 2007’s The Physics Of Fire showed a technical side of the band, due to new lead guitarist Alex Kenis, who also lent clean vocals to the proceedings. The album was decent, but felt more like an exhibition for Kenis than a proper follow-up to Termination Damnation. With Kenis taken out of the picture, and original guitarist Jon Star back in the spotlight, Becoming The Archetype finally has a chance to outshine their debut album, a high bar the band almost reaches.
The keyboard is an essential part of Becoming The Archetype’s third album. With the exception of “Artificial Immortality” and “Evil Unseen,” every song has a distant clean passage, with heavy use of piano/keyboard/acoustic guitars. These moments help to bring a calming effect on the listener, a sharp contrast to the pummeling death metal. Producer/engineer Devin Townsend of Strapping Young Lad fame makes sure each instrument gets its space to shine, and even lends his vocals on opening track “Mountain Of Souls.” Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter fame performs backing vocals on the title track and female soprano Suzanne Richter provides an angelic voice on the extended piano solo on “Deep Heaven.”
These guest musicians have small roles in their respective songs, a disappointing circumstance, especially in Townsend’s case. The rest of the band more than makes up for it, especially with the strong chemistry between guitarists Star and Seth Hecox. The technical aspect has been simmered down a bit, but the solos and melodies on Dichotomy are strong; the former aspect doesn’t overshadow the music, a nice turn-around from the previous album. Their work on the title track, acoustic instrumental “St. Anne’s Lullaby,” and “How Great Thou Art” are notable highlights.
Dichotomy is, in this reviewer’s mind, the true sequel to Termination Damnation. Vocalist/bassist Jason Wisdom finally brought back the death metal grunts and screams to add some needed variety to the album, and while the clean vocals are long-gone, they aren’t missed much. The album flows nicely, with only the meandering “Evil Unseen” and the bland closer “End Of The Age” being the major low points. Some people may not appreciate the out-right religious viewpoints in the lyrics, but that is who Becoming The Archetype is; a Christian band proud of their beliefs. Yes, it does get over-whelming on occasion, and they could have toned it down to please a wider audience, but that would in essence take away the whole picture Becoming The Archetype is painting in front of us. Whether or not your beliefs match the band, Dichotomy is a solid slab of progressive death metal that will help to get Becoming The Archetype back on track after the slight misstep of The Physics Of Fire.
Rating: 7.5/10
Label: Solid State
Website: http://www.myspace.com/becomingthearchetype
By Dan Marsicano
(+52 rating, 12 votes)
Jesus, this album is garbage. Where do you get the information that both secular and religious fans like them? Learn how to review a fucking album you worthless tool.
This was good-better than Physics of Fire, the title track is pretty epic. Since Life in your Way quit, these guys, Lo-Ruhamah and Woe Of Tyrants are the best Christian bands out there now
Our anonymous friend hasn’t been paying a lot of attention apparently. Plenty of non-Christian metal fans like Becoming the Archetype, just do a little searching on the internet. As for the album being garbage, “anonymous” is most definitely entitled to his/her opinion, but I think most honest metal fans would disagree. There is no disputing the fantastic musicianship on this album, or the great song structures. All around, this is a very well put together album. In fact, of the handful of reviews I’ve read, the only ones that rate the album somewhat low seem to be mainly criticizing the band’s Christian faith. My guess is that this is also the main problem our friend has with “Dichotomy”. A pretty close-minded basis for giving the album bad reviews. Strange . . . I thought the Christians were supposed to be the close-minded ones.
A) Christians are FAR from close-minded, buddy.
B) This album is fucking amazing.
This is a ridiculous review. This album changes the face of metal, don’t listen to what anyone says. Turn the volume WAY up, and listen to what real musical craftsmanship sounds like. The title track and “Ransom” alone blow away every other metal release this year, even the new Faceless stuff. I thought I’d never say that.
“Blow away every other metal release this year?” You must not have heard Scar Symmetry’s “The Holographic Universe.”