Band: Come & Rest
Album: Blacklist
Label: Unsigned
Release: 5.12.15
Reviewer: Brody B
Tracklisting:
- Millennials
- Soapbox
- Slowburn
- Feeding Crows (Evermore)
- Behind My Eyes
- Dead Poets Society
After receiving an email several months ago with a few preview tracks off Blacklist, I’ve been excited to see what Come and Rest had to offer on their newest release. The Georgia natives previously reminded me of a more riff-heavy version of The Devil Wears Prada, but have seemingly come into a sound that is more their own on their newest effort, and have peaked my interest in what they have to offer in the future.
“Millennials”, the longest track on the album, opens the barn-burning-riff-fest in style. The production value on Blacklist is huge. The riffs are thick and chunky, the bass drum grooves are pummeling, and the choruses are huge!
“Soapbox” is a great track to listen to in order to familiarize yourself with Come and Rest and the brand of metalcore they bring to the table. The thrashy riffs are in your face right out the gate. Vocalist Noel Alejandro absolutely kills it on this track. His aggression matches the instrumentation present on “Soapbox”, a feat that in and of itself should not be left ignored. One minute Alejandro growls lines like, “Loose ends / Dead friends / Real talk, you’ll lose your best friends”, while the next he goes into a frantic spoken word section as he proclaims, “You’re just a snake with a soapbox”.
As impressive as Alejandro is, his bandmates steal the spotlight in “Slowburn”. The third track on the album is a veritable cornucopia of chugs, melodic leads, dischords, and mind-numbing fills. Just as one section is getting stale, the Georgia boys throw a wrench in the works to spice things up; even adding an ambient section before diving back into a China cymbal and bass drum led verse.
Crows (Evermore) is a bit of a downtempo song compared to the rest of the album. Alejandro switches between his haunting rough around the edge clean vocals and his staple Mike Hranica born screams. The subtle refrain of “Evermore they say” in the background adds to the eeriness of the track. Subtle musical flairs such as the guitar lead towards the end of the track make this cut one to remember.
The tempo picks back up to a regular hardcore punk infused battery of power chords in “Behind My Eyes”. The riff that stampedes through the listener’s speakers at about the 2:20 mark will have hoards of concert goers wildly flailing limbs in the pit as Alejandro ponders, “Alone and lonely is no way to be / I guess that’s just what’s meant for me”.
The album closes in a bit of an odd fashion with ambient music backing the famous monologue from Robin Williams’ beloved character John Keating in his Dead Poet’s Society role. While I don’t have a real problem with the way the album was closed using this monologue, I felt that the music had plenty of room to keep going and flowing after Williams closes with the questions of, “What will your verse be?”.
Overall: Come and Rest have crafted a great hardcore record. Blacklist has something for nearly everyone, be it in the form of diverse vocal delivery or hellish riffs, this album will be sure to emanate from metalheads speakers for some time to come.
RIYL: Steady Hands | The Devil Wears Prada | Earth & Stone
