ALBUM REVIEW: Icon Of The Hopeless – The Interbeing
THE INTERBEING are back with their third studio album, Icon Of The Hopeless – a record that continues the story of their character (named after the band themselves) as he “wakes up in the wake of his despair. His purpose seems to be lost but he finds a new goal by gathering his equally outcasted creatures to destroy their malicious creators.” Furthermore, this record sees the band working with Jacob Hansen (AMARANTHE, DIZZY MIZZ LIZZY, VOLBEAT) who mixed and mastered the album.
We begin with intro track Revive which features industrial sounds that accurately display the dystopian reality our character is living through, watching as the machines burn down and the remnants of humanity disappear. It kicks off as we go straight into Perplexion with rough, growling vocals and fast guitar riffs and drumbeats. As well as including more clean, polished vocals during the chorus, this is a beautifully put together track that is guaranteed to get you head-banging
Throughout the record we can hear snippets of different artists who perhaps helped to inspire their sound, such as the aggressive but mesmerising Black Halo which sounds as if BRING ME THE HORIZON‘s Sempiternal and ARCHITECTS‘ For Those Who Wish To Exist were fused together. Elsewhere, Lies Of Descent is reminiscent of BEARTOOTH, and Synthetic Bloodline has the industrial sounds that a band like MOTIONLESS IN WHITE does so well. But what’s most important is that THE INTERBEING make the album entirely their own identity.
That’s not to say that they got everything right. Lifeless Decay and Ruin, whilst both having a lovely melodic quality, do sound the same as each other and end up being like a track that drags on. But all is forgiven and forgotten when we get to Depressor which is a fast and brilliant track that is likely to leave listeners completely gobsmacked. The band hold their listeners’ attention throughout the record, and our minds continue to be blown. By the time we get to the titular outro track we don’t want it to end. It’s an epic conclusion to the journey we’ve just been on and perhaps hints to what may come. As we fade out we hear faint yet intense sounds that might play as a hint to what the next record will entail.
Icon Of The Hopeless is an engaging and mesmerising album that beautifully blends both rough and clean vocals, with instrumentals that switch from standard industrial metal to the more melodic side of metalcore. It’s a fantastic record that we could not recommend more; listen to it – now!
Rating: 8/10
Icon Of The Hopeless is out now via Prime Collective.
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