In 2003, fresh out of Fullerton, CA, Belay My Last
has been making vigorous attempts to gain success
in the metal scene. Having influences ranging from
The Red Chord, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Despised
Icon, the band incorporates many elements of death
and black metal along with some traces of grindcore
and melodic harmonies. Now, their first recorded effort,
“The Downfall” hits stores.
The Downfall is a pretty straightforward album.
The opening track “An Inconvenience (To A Whore)”
is an all out display of misanthropic vocals and guitar
riffs along with beats that defy rhythm. Truly, this
is about how the whole album was except for the late
middle to end of it. Each song was more or less hit
or miss with changes in the rhythms and tempos. Don’t
get me wrong, some of the grinding double bass runs
were pretty cool but after the second or third song,
it kind of wore on me. Now when songs like “Accepting
Fate” and “Miss America” played,
the album in a way, opened itself up a bit but the
bad part was that didn’t really happen until
the end.
Overall, The Downfall was on O.K. album for a first
release. All the album was coming up short on was
variety. Other parts in it were decent and were cool
to listen to. In reality, there are a lot worse first
timers out there than this. I still recommend it for
fans of The Red Chord and The Black Dahlia Murder
because Belay My Last fits right in with the group.
Key Tracks: One More Foot In The Grave, Accepting
Fate, and Miss America.
Reviewed by Patrick Stevens |
