Architects of Perfection 2011

""Architects of Perfection" offers solid metalcore, which combines deathcore and melodic metalcore, also drawing on more traidional death metal, thrash metal and crossover thrash.

Maybe some people will be turned off by the labels 'metalcore' and 'deathcore', but personally I do not think that metalcore is any less true metal than so many other types of moderns metal; in fact, I don't even believe in the concept of true metal. Although "Architects of Perfection" does not reach perfection, I think that Six Reasons To Kill deliver some quite okay music.

A lot of the guitar riffage is admittedly a bit generic - especially the riffs in the obligatory metalcore breakdowns - but, that being said, there are also lots of old school thrashy riffs, and a lot which remind me a bit of the Sepultura of the early 90s; there are also some cool old school death metal riffs which stand in an interesting contrast to the many more modern and groovy melodeath and metalcore riffs that this album offers.

Musically, this album is quite solid, and very much a positive experience. However, there is a downside to the album, and that is the vocals. Sex Reasons To Kill make use of the conventional combination of growled and screamed vocals, and that combination can work extremely well, but when it does not work, it can be very awful. Sex Reasons To Kill's vocals are awful. The screamed vocals are plain annoying and do not convey those emotions of aggression and desperation that screamed vocals otherwise provide the perfect vehicle of expression for. The growled vocals are intended to be brutal, but that fails, too, as they sound almost pretentious and not very convincing. Also, and I know this is a matter of personal preference, the guys uses a lot of pig squeals, and I hate pig squeals! They do not fit into the whole empowerment concept of extreme metal. If anything, they remind me of that anal male rape scene from "Deliverance"... not a very self-empowering image. Besides, pig squeals just sound stupid.

So, the vocals are not great, but the music itself is not bad at all. I think that this album will certainly appeal to fans of melodeath, metalcore and deathcore, but, due to its references to traditional thrash metal and death metal, some non-coreophobic thrashers and deathsters might like it, too.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com and in Danish on heavymetal.com)"