Old reputations can be hard to shake off. When they first started out as a gang of Sacramento teenagers, Elysia stood accused of misogyny and homophobia due to misinterpretations of their early material, which they concede was down to their immaturity as songwriters. Lion Of Judas, their second full-length, is at least in part an effort to redress that perception.
Lion Of Judas certainly won’t remove their reputation for musical intensity and violent imagery, though. With the assistance of Converge’s Kurt Ballou on production duties, Elysia have forged an incredibly powerful and aggressive sound, topped off by the battlefield howls and bellows of frontman Zak Vargas. Fast-paced, slightly discordant and angular in its attack, Lion Of Judas delivers track after track of unalloyed brutality.
Though variously labelled as metalcore and deathcore, I’d be tempted to suggest there’s a hint of the post-hardcore approach in Elysia’s work – not in the melodic sense, but in structural terms, in the way the songs move and change. But as far as instrumentation is concerned, Lion Of Judas is all metal, with thick monolithic riffs from unison bass and guitar strapped tight to pounding quasi-martial rhythms that remind me somewhat of the earlier death metal outfits.
Have Elysia laid their reputation to rest? It’s a good question, and it’s not one I’m willing to answer – not because I’m not sure, but because I can’t tell. Vargas’ vocal style isn’t exactly conducive to easy translation; the sense of violence and anger is palpable, but what exactly he’s on about isn’t readily apparent, despite the subverted Biblical imagery of song titles like “Crown Of Thorns”, “Plague Of Insects” and “Pride Of Lions”.
The few easily-understood passages are little help. The chorus/mantra of “Pride Of Lions” is a howled repetition of “if you swallowed your brain, you would choke to death” - which as a statement of fact is perfectly logical, but has little metaphorical power without the context of the rest of the song. Betrayal, loss, and the hollow promises of religion are obviously important themes, but they’re notoriously hard to discuss in song lyrics without misinterpretation even when sung clearly. I guess if I was to sit down and listen to Lion Of Judas repeatedly with liberal use of the pause button and a notepad, I could make it all out, but the fact is I’m not really that keen.
And that’s no disrespect to Elysia, either. I can’t fault them musically; they’re easily the equal of their peers in musicianship, and they’ve got plenty of ideas. The problem is more that they’re just wearying to listen to – maybe I’m just too old, but this sort of relentless assault with minimum melody just doesn’t entice me back for further exploration. That said, Lion Of Judas will doubtless flick the musical switches of the new generation; we’ll just have to wait and see about their political switches.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: deathcore, Elysia, hardcore, Lion Of Judas, metal, metalcore
