I’ve been moving at a molasses-like pace with getting these reviews out, and I apologize for that. In my defense, it’s because I’ve been listening to the albums I receive at such a thorough length that I get so immersed in continually listening to them that I actually forget that I’m supposed to be reviewing them and not just listening. This next review is on a band that I thought had disappeared a long time ago, but thankfully they didn’t. This release is about to blow your socks off so far that they’ll be hanging off the rings of Saturn. Give it up for Idols!
Idols is a six piece deathcore/death metal outfit from Seattle, WA that I was convinced had faded out and became just another tick on the growing statistic of disbanded bands with such high potential. If I’m thinking of the correct Idols, they have a 2010 demo and an EP entitled Dehumanization under their belt with their latest release, Choose Hate, ripping apart peoples brains since its official release just a couple weeks ago. Choose Hate is a 10-track, 31-minute release of utter catastrophe. I’ve heard some pretty great releases come from the heavier underground scene, but Idols may have outdone themselves with this release.
Choose Hate starts off with an eerie audio bit of someone describing the ever so popular relationship between God and the Devil with a relatively morbid subject matter spanning just over a minute and a half. I thought it was definitely a precursor for what the listener can expect to hear in terms of subject matter and lyrical content throughout the rest of the album. We then progress into the next few tracks, all titled with single words except for the sixth track duly titled “Choose Hate.” The first few tracks on the album were all as I described before – catastrophic in terms of heaviness. They all embodied massive influences from heavyweight titans of this genre like I Declare War, Oceano and Molotov Solution. Ironically, Oceano isn’t listed as one of the influences on their official Facebook page, but Idols vocalist Drew Armstrong sounds so similar to Adam Warren of Oceano when he hits certain highs and lows in specific songs. Another ironic tidbit is that Jamie Hanks, the current vocalist of I Declare War, is actually featured on track eight of the album, “Voices,” which happens to be one of my favorites on the entire release.
Jonathan Huber, the ex-vocalist of I Declare War, is also featured on the tenth and final track, “Wake.” This might explain the major influence and I Declare War-ish sound that protrudes from this release and every song on it. One of the very minor complaints I have with this album was that there was easily five minutes I could shave off my listening time if I skipped past the repetitive instrumentals at the end of some songs and the interlude endings to a couple of the tracks as well. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s definitely something someone like myself would notice after listening to the album enough times. I’m currently on my 24th listen of the album and I shave off those five minutes almost every single time I listen to it now. After hearing what it is, there’s no reason to waste my time listening to the endings of songs like “Deadweight” with the chants for the final 50 some odd seconds of it as well as the two-plus minutes of repetitive instrumentals on “Harlequin.” It may help the boys of Idols create an atmosphere and overall feel for the album, but it was something I couldn’t care less if it was there or not. Standout tracks on this album would definitely have to be “Voices” (featuring Jamie Hanks), “Wake” (featuring Jonathan Huber), “Remnant” and “Harlequin.” The blast beats and slamming breakdowns of this album made for one heck of a release that combined elements of some of the strongest, heaviest and most popular deathcore/death metal bands in the scene today. Idols definitely correctly harnessed their influences and used it to their advantage to create one of my favorite albums of the past couple months. Like I said earlier, I’m on my 24th straight listen of the album and I still haven’t had enough. It has massive replay value and is a must have for any fan of the bouncy, slamming style that metal has to offer. 
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