Becoming The Archetype - Dichotomy

**earlessdog** · 12-04-2008, 09:12 PM

01. Mountain of Souls
02. Dichotomy
03. Artificial Immortality
04. Self Existent
05. St. Anne's Lullaby
06. Ransom
07. Evil Unseen
08. How Great Thou Art
09. Deep Heaven
10. End of the Age

**earlessdog** · 12-04-2008, 09:13 PM

Suggested guide for voting
10 - Amazing CD. Everyone should own it.
9 - Among the best of the year.
8 - One of the top CDs around, but could have been improved in a few places.
7 - Not a bad CD, but could have been better in a number of places.
6 - Pretty good for it's genre, but overall it's only acceptable.
5 - Decent CD, but only if you're a big fan of this genre.
4 - If you love this band, you'll like this CD. Otherwise, probably not.
3 - If you're a fan of this genre, the CD is barely acceptable.
2 - If you're a big fan of this band, this CD is tolerable.
1 - Even if you like this band, you won't like this CD.

Mr. claw · 12-04-2008, 10:18 PM

I think the most obvious difference- and improvement the band has made is that the songs aren't all clocking in at five minutes or more. I cannot listen to that many five minute songs in a row. It can get quite boring, especially when each song has to get very slow at least once so we can endure some clean vocals that seem like they were placed in the song....why? A few long songs per cd are more suitable and can add a lot to an album...there's a happy medium. There are only two songs upwards of five minutes here...much more listenable to me.

Also, the solos have been cured. More later...after a few more listens.

normajean777 · 12-05-2008, 04:47 AM

Agreed the album art is pretty sweet.

So this album is really cool. There are really sweet vocals throughout, I'm not noticing annoying stretches of cleans that were so dominant in the last album. It seems less restricted, louder, and more energetic than "physics" which is great, and will ultimately lead to it being less repetitive to me over time.

There are lots of sweet solos, and fantastic involvement of the keyboard in particular, it nicely adds to the sound. I'm listening to "End of the Age" right now and the guy is screaming "Hallelujah", and I feel like I'm in a worship service with metal. The song "How Great Thou Art" is the hymn, but metal, and it is just absolutely fantastic. I'm really pumped about this, it seems so fresh, and I know that BTA's faith is not sketch, its not hidden behind a label, its out in the open and spoken boldly through the music.

While I'm listening I have been comparing this in my head to Archenemy, who I think are just musical masters of melodic death metal. I also found myself comparing them to Opeth.

Anyway all in all this album is a huge boost from the last album, but comparable on a stage outside of just Christian metal. These guys are producing amazing songs. Buy the album.

I'm reposting this from the request... I hadn't realized that the other wasn't the actual thread...

Mr. claw · 12-30-2008, 09:19 PM

Easily my favorite BTA cd. The songs are brutal, the pace is generally blistering and never slowed for repetitious solos or interrupted by slows sections with horrid cleans. It's the cd I've always wanted this band to make.

My only real beef with this cd is the cheesy second half of the piano solo in Deep Heaven. Does not flow with the song and detracts from the brutality. The clean piano part before the part I'm referring to is fine. And that's just one part of one song.

The drummer they had do the recordings was excellent. His style was similar to Duck's and his feet are extremely fast. His china sounded muted and crappy though. I'd rather it be loud and overbearing like ABR's than sound like that.

akaukal · 12-31-2008, 08:07 AM

Love the cd. I never liked TD, and I loved TPOF, but this easily tops that. Easy 10.

monkeysmile · 03-18-2009, 12:21 AM

11.

**earlessdog** · 03-18-2009, 01:54 PM

I'll have to leave a full review yet, but incase its a while till I get around to it, i'll just some it up.
Better than TPOF and not as good as TD. This album is awesome, its nice to have Jon back on guitar. Ryan's guest vocals ruin the song. The album generally seems quite formulated, they don't venture out too much.
Still a great album. (though terrible art work)

KaiserZr · 03-24-2009, 08:36 AM

I easily think it is the best cd they have put out. After being dissapointed with Physics of Fire (though not a bad cd, it just didn't feel like the BTA I was used too). In my mind the guitars are at their peak in terms of diversity (they used a lot more of wah in their solos and we got another good blues solo at the end of "Mountain of Souls").The drums are still good, nothing spectacular, but if there is a low point of Becoming the Archetype it is their drums. I love how they use the keyboard with their songs (which seems to be more prevalent in this album), just adds a whole other dimension to their music that most death metal bands seem to lack (not to say that you have to have it for every band, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't...For Becoming the Archetype it does..

Vocals have the diversity that was lacked in Physics of Fire. I may be one of the few, but I loved all the guest vocals and I thought Ryan Clark's guest vocals fit well with the song and helped play with the dynamics of the song. That being said the my two favorite songs on the cd for me easily had to be "How Great Thou Art" and "End of Age". Honestly it wouldn't be hard for me to say they are my two BTA songs period...but "No Fall Too Far", "The Epigone", and "Elegy" still are up their too. I don't think their is song I didn't like.

crazymoose · 05-17-2009, 01:35 AM

Easy 10. I've listened to it a fair bit and there isn't a song on it I don't like. I love how these guys are so open about their faith. End of the Age could basically be a worship song. How Great Thou Art... made a good hymn just awesome. I wish more people were able to scream so I could do them in worship...

Favourite songs, I'd have to agree with Kaiser: How Great Thou Art and End of the Age.