Featuring ex-members of Despised Icon and Blind Witness, Obey The Brave started with a relatively large fan base and it has been growing rapidly since they released Ups And Downs in May of this year. Their debut full-length album, Young Blood, is set to release on August 28th via Epitaph Records. As heard on the opening track, “Lifestyle”, they’re “not trying to reinvent the wheel. [They] keep it simple, [they] keep it real”.Right from the start, you’re bound to get the feeling that Obey The Brave is similar to bands like The Ghost Inside, but focused more on heaviness rather than melody. That connection can be made rather easily when you get to the fourth track, “Live And Learn”. “Live And Learn” features some of the heaviest breakdowns man has ever encountered, making it a sure throwdown track. In addition to being one of the most destructive songs on the album, the melodies in the chorus are awesome and the outro solo is great. Simple, but great.There are a few tracks that are more melodic than others. To name a few, “It Starts Today”, “Self Made”, “Early Graves”, and “Burning Bridges”. The first two tracks show off the guitarists’ abilities to pick some tasty melodic metalcore riffs. “It Starts Today” also has a very nice outro solo.Halfway through the album, we come to a track titled “Grim”. “Grim” is a 30-second interlude that sounds like it belongs on a hip-hop/rap album. It is pointless and it most certainly doesn’t belong on a metalcore album, but again, it’s only 30 seconds long so this is a minor flaw. The bigger gripe that I have with this album is the fact that there is not a whole lot of variety.
Young Blood gets back on the right track after “Grim” with a handful of great songs before the album comes to a close with the strongest track, “Burning Bridges”. It contains melody, heavy breakdowns, and surprising but effective clean vocals. The clean vocals heard in the chorus are very similar to the cleans that are heard throughout Your Memorial’s new album, Redirect.
Individually, the songs on Young Blood are spectacular. They’re heavy, fairly melodic, really fun to listen to, and bound to wreak havoc at a show. The album as a whole, however, becomes a little bit stale. If there was a wide range of sounds, Obey The Brave’s new release may have been a serious contender for album of the year.
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