Album Reviews

This is really cool, it’s chugging groove-infused djent metal with a lot of hardcore elements. Now I can be a little bit fussy when it comes to hardcore, but the hardcore elements really work on this EP, especially when it comes to the vocal style. You do have your mix of guttural growls and roars mixed in with more of a hardcore style, and it really works. Instrumentally, this is ridiculously heavy, complex riffs which are really chugging, ridiculous breakdowns absolutely everywhere, thunderous rhythm section, and it has this fiery energy that completely annihilates everything. This is coming at you like an unhinged bulldozer. It’s full of really tasty groovy hooks, you’ve got the slamming bass lines, and there’s just a lot of frantic built-up energy behind this. I can be fussy when it comes to hardcore, but it’s not overbearing in this EP at all, and it is incredibly well placed. It certainly kept me well hooked from beginning to end. If you’re a fan of Lamb of God, Pantera, with a little bit of Hatebreed in there. This one is definitely for you. Plus, check out that album artwork. I absolutely love this album artwork, and that was the first thing that really attracted me to this EP. Lots of infectious grooves of violent energy, and it’s going to get you moving. Definitely check this one out.

8/10

Hailing from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Aligned in Ruins spits out a vicious blend of groove metal through some djent and hardcore angles for this album aptly titled Cognitive Behavioral Torture. The nine tracks within this record create combustible combinations from the forceful, raging screams to stunted rhythms, beyond the precise bass/drum work that brings all the groove / hook elements home. Wasting no time in these arrangements, you can expect direct material that emphasizes specific circular elements that batter themselves into your brain matter as if your life depends on it.

Chunky riffs possess this staccato, slightly djent edge while still being 100% metal to the bone – one exposure to “Dysmorphic” or “Splitting Teeth” makes you think of 90s period Sepultura or Meshuggah careening head first into the work of Power Trip. The raspy vocals burst at the hardcore seams – you can imagine blood vessels burst or glass shattering instantly while this voice demands attention from the lowest semi-growl all the way through to the hardest of rhythmic screams. Supplementary squeals or trailing notes achieve that extra earworm factor next to main guitar riffs designed for maximum spasmodic convulsions – “Before the Sacrifice” the clearest example of the group elevating their game to future pit swirls of domination. Occasional use of alternative or sludge-style chord progressions provides a left-field element to the sound that keeps things fresh – without sacrificing the natural mid-tempo groove elements which are foundational to their style. Distant word speak against cascading electric/clean guitars takes “In Solution” into another direction, the jagged screams a perfect foil next to the atmospheric, almost hypnotic music put forth in this track.

Packing a tremendous punch in a tidy package (the record clocks in at a very reasonable 31 minutes), Aligned in Ruins could be another break out act from this state because of the in-your-face material that Cognitive Behavioral Torture represents. The see-saw parameters between catchiness and aggression pay dividends when worked out in the fashion these gentlemen have delivered here.