Yell! Magazine’s review of BornBroken’s The Healing Powers of Hate:
BornBroken, emerging from the metal hotbed of Montreal, Canada, released their debut album on June 4th. And I have to say that out of the gate it sounds far superior than the average debut. These extreme metallers have done an amazing job of combining death and thrash without treading on melodic death too much. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some melodic death, but I might have rolled my eyes if I was being introduced to another act in that genre.
The quality of the recording is also up to standards, including some gravity blasts that’ll have you shouting, “fuck yeah!” There are a lot of them, but I don’t think that the effect is overused. The same people that say that there are too many gravity blasts will also likely criticize The Healing Powers of Hate for using too much chug-chug-chug, too many blast beats, and too many breakdowns. I say that if that’s all you hear, you’re not listening to this incredibly dynamic album.
Further on the recording, none of the instruments (including the vocals) are buried. Everything can be heard (this has become a point of concern for me), and I’m thankful for it because BornBroken play with such a brutal violence and aggression that it demands your attention. If you’re interested in the personnel, there’s a list below.
There’s definitely a thematic concept to The Healing Power of Hate, some sort of futuristic dystopia — or BornBroken could just as easily be looking at our world today. The way this is delivered, with spoken-word interludes between songs, reminds me of Fear Factory’s Obsolete. However, the quality of Jesus Salazar’s spoken voice is much more reminiscent of an ‘80s thrash band.
The album opens with sirens and muffled voices on “Can’t Quiet the Riot.” It’s a vicious opening track, full of hard vocals, great drumming, and wicked strings. The track ends with clean, echoing guitars that convey a sense of hopelessness, which plays into the concept of the album, before going into an outro of TV or radio channel changing.
Check out what we think of specific tracks and our final verdict after the jump…
Similar Artists:
Fear Factory, Slipknot, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, Hatebreed
- Yell! Rating (x/5 Skulls):
-
- Artist
- BornBroken
- Album:
- The Healing Powers of Hate
- Year Released:
- 4 June 2013
- Label:
- Independent
- Genre
- Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Groove Metal
- Official URL:
- BornBroken
