Embrace the Gutter

For an album dubbed "metalcore", it's hard to find many hardcore influences on this album. In a genre riddled by cheap imitations and rather non-metal musicians, The Autumn Offering bring something quite different then their predeccesors.


Now, if you've heard their first album, I must warn you that this album is slightly more melodic and the vocals are easier to understand, however there's really no "clean" singing on this album. The guitar solos are amazing and make for one hell of a listen. Instead of going on ruthless aggressive thrash influenced metalcore like Chamaira, and instead of going into emotional metalcore like Bullet For My Valentine, The Autumn Offering decide to just play metal. They don't need "1 part thrash meets 2 parts hardcore" or any other bullshit, they just play REAL metal. It's a very technical approach that makes metal different from metalcore and hardcore. Now while there is still a few similiarities, this album is far from the normal metalcore album. The sound is basically a melodic death metal, with harsh yet melodic vocals, wonderful guitars, and even some decent drumming.


As for the songs themselves, there might not be alot of variety, but there is certainly some standouts. "Decay" is an awesome track, and unlike alot of death metal, the 'decaying' part is metaphorical, not talking about decaying zombies or anything. "Embrace The Gutter" is the best song and my favorite right now. Call it 'user friendly' but just because it's simple doesn't take away from it's over-all quality. The song isn't poppy, just more catchy. There's plenty more standouts, but I felt those were worth mentioning.


All in all, if you don't mind your metal with a couple hardcore influences here and there, or if you're a metalcore fan looking for something more mettalic, then I think you'll love this album. It should also be noted that for some strange reason this album lacks a Parental Advisory, yet other albums with the same or even less profane moments are stickered. Strange, but not really bothersome to me.

The Autumn Offering are relatively new faces to the metal scene. These guys would be considered to fit the gategory of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, but their sound is much more european sounding than many of their contemporaries. These guys remind me of old Arch Enemy. There are fun and catchy riffs, very good lead work and a vocal performance which is a growl, but with some melodic content to it.

The record shows much promise. There are some very groovy riffs and the vocal performance, albeit not a dazzling one, nonetheless fits the band's sound very well. As previously mentioned there is a definite european sound to this Florida based quintet. There are many melodic passages and soaring leads filled with sweep and alternate picking lines. The drums aren't over the top but remain steady and drive the rythm forward as they should. The bass is not a major elelement to the band's sound, and doesn't factor in that much in the overall quality of the record. Basically, this is a guitar driven record.

The songwriting is pretty simple. They played it safe on this one and I think it could work in their favor since it will get many fans tuned in. The band doesn't take many risks rather offering some pretty good thrashy songs you can headbang to. "Decay" is a good song with a fast pace and some very good lead work to boot. the vocal performance reminds me a lot of Darkest Hour's Undoing Ruin. "The Yearning" is another standout track as is the title track. "Embrace the Gutter" is a very simple song, but that doesn't stop its point from getting across.

The problem is that there are no extra layers to peel. This is generic metal done with a modern edge. So don't expect to be taken on a musical journey the likes of which you have never been. Just expect some euro-inspired American metal.

Originally posted on: The Riff Respository (http://riffrepository.awardspace.com/)

To put it simply, this album is everything that is right with the American Metal scene right now. In the wake of the late 90s/early 2K's influx of rap/nü-metal, it seems that a swathe of European-influenced young musicians have to decided how to learn to play their instruments again in a movement many have dubbed "The New Wave of American Heavy Metal". I had originally seen this band/album advertised on Headbanger's Ball in a video for the title track, seeing phrases like "This is real metal" flashed across the screen. Having not been able to find it through "other means", I decided to go out completely blind and pick up the album based on what I had heard on that commercial.

Boy, they were right.

This is real metal. Okay, so you power metal fans might disagree with me on that. The album is actually a very tasteful hybrid of melodic death metal and metalcore (ala Shadows Fall, God Forbid, etc.)with guitar prowess reminiscent of the aforementioned power metal genre. But in my opinion, this album epitomizes the current, razor wire, balls out, bleeding edge of modern metal music. Like Metallica and Megadeth in the 80s and Pantera in the 90s, Embrace the Gutter is both aggressive and melodic, riffy but ear-friendly enough to those who don't like hardcore.

So let me get this out of the way up front: you're not going to like this album if you can't stand harsh vocals. However, as guttural vocals go, these particular ones are mixed far enough back and done with enough style that when compared to the excellent musicianship, they are rather bearable.

Getting that out of the way, everything else on the record is done extremely well. Not to keep heaping accolades on this band, but on my first listen to this album, I initially thought "this is the second coming of In Flames" . The guitars are quite obviously styled after the Scandinavian "Gothenburg"/melodic death metal sound pioneered by In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Luckily, the annoying (in my opinion) tremolo picking employed by many bands of the prior mentioned genre is heard very little. However, while the guitarists show these roots, there are still enough metalcore influences to give The Autumn Offering a distinctly American sound, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Yes, there are breakdowns to be heard, but they are done more subtly and tastefully than most and interwoven through incredibly catchy and melodic leads.

And don't think that this band is all about crunchy, mindless mosh riffs, either. There are quite a few clean and acoustic sections. Take for example the instrumental psuedo-ballad, The Final Cut. The song starts with an eerie vibrating classical piano, coming in with a trudging riff and dragging double bass and then fading into an interlude with a light piano and clean guitar melody, almost sounding like a child's bedtime song. Or what about the classical acoustic guitar break at the tale end of One Last Thrill (starting at 2:51)?

As is the case with most bands in the metal genre, it's hard to really comment about the drummer, and even less about the bassist. To my ears, the bass is pretty much inaudible, as it is most likely miming the rhythm guitar parts or syncopating with the double bass of the drums. But is it usually ever any different in if riff-heavy music anyway? I can say, however, that while the drums didn't particularly stick out at me as being innovative, the drummer seems quite talented and the production of the drums is "solid" feeling, not tinny sounding, and adds a perfect background to the crunchy hooks of the rhythm guitar. Unlike most extreme metal drums, the drums on this album serve more to keep the momentum and provide traction with the guitars, rather than be all at blast-beat fests.

The Autumn Offering is by no means a one trick pony and quite possibly one of the most talented bands in the genre. They rise above the pack by not rehashing the typical song styling and structure of more generic bands. Having not had heard of the band before this release, The Autumn Offering now ranks among the modern American metal elite (along with Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, God Forbid, and to a lesser extent, Unearth and Trivium) in my book. For fans who like their metal to have balls but not be mindless down-tuned shit, pick up Emrbace the Gutter.