Onward Anguishes

As Onward Anguishes pulsates through my speakers, my initial impression was that it was going to be more of the same listless melodic death metal that was present in the debut. Oh, but it’s got some clean sections and clean vocals here and there – ooh! I get that it’s meant to be an overall more downtrodden experience that, within their anguish, is more depressed than Eeyore, and opting for a more mundane equivalent of Sentenced and My Dying Bride is how Relinquished want to do it could work in their favor. But I think there’s a point where it goes from what’s intended to unintentionally boring – as in, it becomes a right snoozer, rather than genuinely melancholic. It’s difficult to really acknowledge the improvements here because they don’t amount to enough to lift it into anything all that interesting.

So yeah, unfortunately, even with cleaner production that better distinguishes the riffs as to have them try to weigh us down more, the music fails to really elicit anything other than boredom because it’s just the most stock, ordinary melodic death metal melodies with smatterings of vague gothic motifs – especially during the cleaner parts – to try and provide a mood that isn’t very well reflected in the music. The more chugga chugga riffing that comes about at times tries to recall Draconian in their execution with their crushing melancholy, but they wind up sounding more like some third-rate Scar Symmetry wannabe with the sort of growly verses and clean vocal choruses formula that’s often adopted here combined with the listless riffing. Doesn’t help that the clean vocals sound more like he’s fast asleep.

However, once “No Virtue Unatoned” comes on, it’s like a fire lit under their asses as all of a sudden, we get this groove that has some drive to it. It’s nothing fancy or anything, but just the fact that there’s something going on that has some sort of flow to it and some kind of drive while still having that downtrodden feeling to it thanks to the slightly heavy riff it’s got going through it is definitely something that elevates what’s ultimately a bad album into one that’s less bad. Then “A World of Constant Suffering” comes on with what seem to be more of a progressive veneer. Structuring starts to become intentionally unconventional, rather than just a collection of riffs and motifs they just came up with on the spot. Clean parts actually attempt to emphasize a more melancholic mood that the heavier riffs and growls try to establish. Melodies make an effort to surprise the listener with their timings, yet they also have some narrative cohesion that allows it to flow…

...I’m trying to look on the bright side here, because the songs are still a bit dull. It’s just that at least there’s something actually going on that you can try to sink your teeth into, which is a noticeable upgrade from Susanna Lies in Ashes. That’s what’s earnestly frustrating about Onward Anguishes. That they have something going on in the latter half of the album that piques at least some interest, especially when compared to the turbo-mediocre music in the first half. Ah well.