ALBUM REVIEW: Balance – Obey The Brave

Given the relations OBEY THE BRAVE have to deathcore royalty DESPISED ICON, it is no wonder that the band ooze a true confidence when it comes to writing heavy beatdowns. OBEY THE BRAVE came on to the scene at the turn of the decade with a sound rooted in the basic power of formula, and how effective it can be to simply write huge riffs that bleed into even bigger breakdowns. With a sound that hasn’t evolved all that much over the years, the Canadian group have at least been able to double down and highlight their strengths with each passing release. Now with their new album Balance, OBEY THE BRAVE are further hammering home the point that they are the ones to be trusted to bring the thunder, and now even come with a few newer tricks to boot.

The striking album cover is a beautifully simple concept and reflects the groups ethos towards their song writing. Having loudly exclaimed to not be re-inventing the wheel, No Apologies opens Balance in typical OBEY THE BRAVE fashion. Massive chugging rhythms cut through the speakers, and the song boasts a catchy, if slightly off tone chorus, that shows the band to at least be stretching their wings further to include more melody into their music. When they nail it down, Balance really shows a fresher side to OBEY THE BRAVE, as tracks like The Tide really channel inspiration from contemporaries like THE GHOST INSIDE with real success.

When the band want to incite carnage then they are still more than capable, with vocal features from the likes of Alex Taylor of MALEVOLENCE fame bringing a certain spice to the recipe as well. Overall the vocal performance from Alex Erian isn’t something to truly shout home about, instead he remains a consistent part of the OBEY THE BRAVE blueprint but is far from the standout here. Despite the lack of truly original riffs, the power and weight with which the guitars hit makes up for the sometimes-lacklustre compositions. Overall though , this isn’t spitting distance away from what anyone expect from a new OBEY THE BRAVE record, and whilst this does well to meet expectations, the fact the band are still deepening their sound, it begs to question whether there were any other ideas that could’ve been brought to the table.

Whilst there might feel to be a real lack of exploration given the band’s cliched growth towards melodic choruses, OBEY THE BRAVE have never been a band to do anything other than what suits them. Balance features a healthy dose of what made OBEY THE BRAVE such an endearing and obvious choice for breakdown junkies everywhere and adds in a deeper layer of melody to shake up the blueprint. With a few decent vocal features scattered throughout the album, Balance never feels out of step or uncomfortable, but it is also one of the safest and most by-the-books albums of the year. Not disappointing by any stretch, but also not exactly a shining beacon of creativity. OBEY THE BRAVE are good at what they do, and what they do is pretty good, even if you probably won’t remember it after a while.

Rating: 6/10

Balance is out now via Impericon Records.

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