Hmm. Where to begin? Abandon All Ships, from Toronto, Ont., have crafted some controversy. The controversy didn’t start on this album, however. Ever since their self titled EP release, which eventually got them signed to Velocity/Rise Records, Abandon All Ships has done two things. They’ve received a pretty substantial fanbase, garnering almost 175,000 likes on Facebook, and they’ve been put into question, mainly due to their lyrical content.
Now, we in the modern metal/hardcore community are no strangers to vulgarity from some bands, or positive and faithful lyrics from others. Why these guys are under the spotlight is because they’ve gone from one extreme to the other in a matter of two albums. Their previous album, Geeving, had an odd mixture of lyrics pertaining to Christian faith and lyrics pertaining to partying, women, and relationships. Infamous takes a turn more towards the latter. F-bombs and other crude content play a big part in the lyrics on this album.
For those who don’t know their sound, they follow a tattered banner. By that, I mean they play electronic ridden post hardcore, similar to Make Me Famous, older Attack Attack and several other bands who’ve done it to death. Going even as far as to place auto tuning over clean vocalist Martin Broda. In a way, it’s sad, because it’s apparent that Broda has talent and can produce decent clean vocals without auto tuning, but they’ve made it clear that this is merely a part of their sound.
Along with Martin’s cleans, are lead vocalist Angelo Aita’s screams. He has a unique vocal style, but it’s very strained and lacks much variety. Geeving, in my opinion, displayed Angelo’s vocal height, as this album showcases a more weathered scream from Angelo.
Musically, Geeving and Infamous are similar in many aspects. Breakdowns, some with electronic samples over top, choruses laced with auto tune, and no “true” guitar content. If you listened to Geeving, you won’t find much of a difference in this album. It’s heavy to many, sure. Variety, however, is not very prevalent here. I’ll admit that I was a fan of Geeving during my post hardcore days, but as I’ve grown into more progressive, talented music, this just leaves me feeling empty. I will say though, if Abandon All Ships had taken a better turn for their musicianship and lyrical content, I would’ve probably enjoyed it more.
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