After releasing their debut album, To Those Perishing, about a year ago, the christian metalcore/post-hardcore quintet known as A Past Unknown is already back with another full-length album entitled Vainglory. Vainglory is set to release on October 9th via Red Cord Records.
The most noteworthy aspect of Vainglory is the vocals. The screaming is impressive, both the vocalist’s delivery and range, and his clean vocals are exceptional. The choruses of “Cursed” and “Fact Or Fiction” are catchy enough to be stuck in your head for days. Another song that really stood out to me was the eleventh track entitled “The Seeker”. There is no screaming on this track and it is just a beautiful song.
The drumming on Vainglory is decent and the drummer does have his moments, however, they are not heard very frequently. The bassist also has his moments and he is extremely audible which really brings out the overall sound even more. There have been countless times that I’ve listened to an album and have had difficulty hearing the bass at all, but it is very clear on Vainglory.
You can expect a fair dosage of chugging, but when there is melody, A Past Unknown makes sure to put it to the forefront. In particular, during most choruses and throughout a few tracks (“Purpose”, “Reason To Fear”, and “August”) the guitar leads are quite noticeable and sound fantastic.
Because there is a lot of chugging and quite a few breakdowns, the album becomes a bit stale at some points. Thankfully, there are several tracks like “Cursed”, “August”, “Unrest”, and “The Seeker” that break up the chugging by incorporating solid guitar leads and/or catchy choruses. The aforementioned tracks are definitely the strongest on Vainglory, but there is still not quite enough originality to push this album to the next level.
All things considered, what we’re left with is a very respectable album from A Past Unknown that sees the band take another step in the right direction. If Vainglory is any indication of what’s to come from this band, be sure to keep an ear on them.
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