Reminiscent of fellow label mates Dillinger Escape Plan, The End launches Elementary, their follow-up to 2004’s Within Dividia. This album starts off very menacing and does not let up throughout the entire album. Mixing parts Dillinger Escape Plan with Tool’s finer mathematical aspects, by track 5 you feel as though you’ve listened to an entire album.
Aaron Wolf’s vocals are definitely leaning towards the Maynard James Keenan side of things with power vocals and screaming scattered throughout the album. The guitars are perfectly in sync and the drums keep a solid backbone. On the production side of things, this album is nearly perfect, with a great balance between everything and very solid sounding all around. All in all, this album is an early contender for record of the year.
Not only does The End bring the heavy, they also bring us a little bit of psychedelic stuff, such as the track “A Fell Windâ€. This shows the amazing spectrum that The End is able to cover and shows that they can keep things interesting and fresh throughout one album
If the band can keep up what they’re doing, they’re well on their way to the cult status a band such as Dillinger has, but will probably never make it as mainstream the way Tool has. All in all, if you’re a metal fan, this is the first must have album of 2007.
Recommended If You Like: Dillinger Escape Plan, Tool, Mudvayne
Website: The End
