Singularity

Now here is something rare, a modern, American melodic death metal band that's on par with the strongest of Sweden's output in the 1990's! Of course, there are some stylistic changes due to time and geography. Namely, that Singularity is more of a seamless mixture of Gothenburg death metal and New England metalcore, with just a pinch of Southern groove metal. Even so, the Gothenburg sound is so dominant here that Adversary could easily fit in with the Gothenburg scene. The two bands I hear the most of in Adversary, are In Flames and Shadows Fall. They also have one of the strongest singers in metalcore, tight and catchy songs with driving riffs, and plenty of damning attitude towards life in America. With these building blocks, Adversary craft a debut that's as strong as they come with Singularity.

You can tell these guys are dedicated. The guitarists pull out all of the breaks and churn out some of the fastest and craziest riffing and shredding that could easily match either Niklas Sundin or Jesper Stromblad, while infusing those rhythms with a Dimebag-style underside to give them just a bit more punch. Singularity is a fast-paced affair, moving at a glorious speed set by the drums, energizing the entire performance. The singer, William Clapp is one of the most unique death metal/metalcore singers out there in the fact that he can pull off booming death growls and harsh blackened snarls while also having a soulful clean sung voice that's deeper and more manly than what most metalcore singers could hope to ever pull off. This kind of talent is hard to come by.

The music contained within is speed-driven, ball-blasting melodeath with an American kick, that is wound into rowdy, driving songs that pack as much speed and as much heat as an F-16 catching on fire mid-flight. They carry the anger and passion of Adversary's band mates as their songs revolve around problems with the hypocrisy and cheap grace of Christianity, two-faced corporate American politics, personal achievement, apathy, and past sorrows. Tightly-wound, high-powered riffs, and passionate screed-filled shouting over blistering drum tempos make songs like "The Grand Mistake", "Hedonist", and "By Apathy Undone" scorching tracks to thrash your head off to. There are more melodious and beautiful pieces on here, such as "Ashes of Faith" which brings a violin in to capitalize on the guitars and bridge the two already nice, trudging, march-like sections of the song. Clapp's singing makes the title track even more catchy, melodic, and energizing, while it turns "Wisdom in Regret" into a sorrowful, yet reaffirming piece that closes the album with a blast. This is Adversary giving all they can to compete with their Swedish and New Englander forbears, and succeeding fully.

Adversary's sound is massive and impactful. This is the mixture of melodic death metal and metalcore that gets it right. The songs are well written, the singer is exuberant and full of strength, the riffs are epic, yet also tough and punchy, and it all manages to amaze while still feeling down to earth. This should have amounted to something greater for Adversary, but sadly, bad business decisions by Trustkill Records and the 2008 financial crisis left this band stuck in limbo due to their label collapsing while Adversary was still just a small-time band when all of this happened. This angers me, because with a debut as strong as this, Singularity leaves me genuinely aching for more from these guys.

This album is a perfect example of quantity over quality. The songs have more than enough energy, taking into acount the blasting drums, the raw guitar work and the powerful vocals. However, energy only goes so far. The problem with this album is that it is not nearly original enough to match the power it has. This band is a strange mix of melodeath/Thrash with metalcore influences; It does not, however, qualify as deathcore, which makes one think that the music will be as original as the genre used to define it. However, this is not the case for Adversary. The genre makes it sound promising, and a few of the songs are quite original. On the whole, though, Adversary is still a generic band. Songs have few original riffs, yet they are plagued with generic drumlines and riffs that seem to be the same throughout the album.

Just like every other new wave of american heavy metal band, Adversary tries to make up for its lack of originality by trying to pound your ears in with as much raw power as possible. For this, I must give kudos to this band. Unlike bands like Lamb of God, the energy of Adversary does not fade or become boring throughout the album. If you are looking for music while working out, for example, where the quality and originality doesn't matter nearly as much as a thrashing rythm section with heavy guitars, then this album is right for you.

One part of this band that really delivers is the bass. Unlike the rest of the instruments, the bass is original through and through, and remains energetic and raw. With time and experience, this bassist could be compared to Alex Webster. Unfortunately, Webster had the rest of Cannibal Corpse to back him up, while Daniel Tidwell has, simply, a heavy metalcore band behind him. Of course, even with a great band, very few can reach the prowess of this bass guitar legend, but Daniel Tidwell, Adversary's bassist, is being held back by the band. As much as I admire the basslines this band has, it still doesn't make up for the aforementioned unoriginality and lack of true songwriting ability. Adversary overflows with technical skill, yet only the bassist is truly a musician.

As far as the vocals go, William Clapp stays just above the bare minimum throughout the album, with some peak moments, that end too soon, and are then drowned out by the same old riffs that I seem to hear every time I listen to anything that ends in -core. The very slight black metal influence in Clapp's vocals is really my favorite part of the album, but whether due to an effort to stay on the mainstream side of things, or perhaps Clapp's inability to keep blackening his voice, the black metal vocals are kept, once again, to a minimum. It seems this is something the band excels at: Keeping good, original music at a minimum.

Simply because this is the bands debut, I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but if the band keeps this up on their next release, I don't think reviewers will be so kind. I don't think I'd be able to get through yet another generic album. Some songs are diamonds in the rough, with their full potential just aching to get out. Perhaps Adversary will finally reach their full potential in the future, but with this album, they seem to have failed miserably.

When I first heard that Adversary was from Manassas, VA, my interest was peaked for all the wrong reasons. You see, I live 10 minutes outside of Manassas and over the years have been to countless shows in and around the area. Most of these shows involved heavy volumes of girl pants, pig squeals, and spin kicks; all things guaranteed to ensure eternal auditory (and probably personal) damnation in my eyes. So for the past 6 years, I’ve regarded Manassas as a cultural wasteland, devoid of any talent or riff that didn’t rely on open string strumming. This in mind, it is little wonder that my first instinct was to write off the group’s first record, Singularity, as nothing more than another derivative deathcore record. Well… it’s not. In fact, with the exception of Blacklisted, I’ve never been so wrong about a band before. After listening to this record for the better part of a month, I’m convinced that Singularity is everything that is right with the modern American metal scene, and then some.

Adversary’s sound is most broadly described as melodic death metal. The trouble with such abstracts in the case of albums like this one is that they are woefully oversimplified. It’s been quite awhile since the metal community has heard something like the sonic smorgasbord called Singularity. Infectious melodic riffing compel you to hum their songs all day long and the pummeling rhythm section keeps all four of my limbs flailing along in a never ending quest to master the air drums.

What makes Singularity really rise above its peers is the occasional curve ball the innovative Virginians throw at your expectations. The instrumental “Ashes of Faith” contains both an impressive (if somewhat overindulgent) extended guitar solo followed by a cathartic build up using two cellos to lay the foundation for the approaching crescendo. Several of the tracks make heavy use of pentatonic scales. “Wisdom in Regret” and “Hedonist” both demonstrate the thick southern sound and mountains of groove added to an otherwise thoroughly European metal album. Also, the fourth song, “In Vino Veritas”, stands out from the other jams on the first listen. It’s the best song on the disc if for no other reason than the hammer-on riff that captivates you from beginning chorus right to the closing guitar squeal. This is the kind of song that gets put on play lists and mix CDs for years to come.

Perhaps the most remarkable part of an already noteworthy introduction is to be found in the vocal department. Singer William Clapp adds enormous depth to Adversary’s sound with his powerful and varied delivery. Boasting both a vicious, snarling rasp and a dynamic, emotive clean register, Clapp’s voice is a force to be reckoned with. The interplay between the two sung extremes is very reminiscent of metalcore favorite, At All Cost. Both bands use the vocals as audio cues for verse/chorus transitions and to great effect. Singularity is rife with memorable choruses courtesy of Clapp. The lyrics are hit or miss, but you’ll have so much fun singing along it’s hard to care what nonsense you’re saying.

Catchy riffs and heavy groove are key components to success, and Adversary is flush with both. However, few albums are perfect and Singularity doesn’t quite meet this illustrious standard. For instance, after “Manifest Humanity” the rest of the songs don’t establish their identity as strongly as the front five. Production values also could use some adjusting. The bassist is M.I.A. on the record as near as I can tell. This is yet another example of a really good album that could have been truly great with some audio tweaking.

Adversary has unleashed a monster of a debut album. The songs are well crafted, they rarely lose your attention, and gems like “In Vino Veritas” and “The Grand Mistake” will ensure that this disc gets plenty of play time. It’s refreshing to hear a young, talented metal band playing a uniquely Americanized style of European melodeath. Modern metal scene take notice; no longer will cookie cutter replicas of Slaughter of the Soul be enough to sell records. Gone are the days of bloated breakdowns wasting half the track. Monotone growling and slightly off key singing will satisfy the masses no more. The Singularity has been calculated, and it’s massively heavy.

I have to say, “Singularity” is actually taking me back to a time I was never a part of, but wished I was, that time being the early days of Swedish inspired melodic metalcore, you know, the pre-millennium stuff. Wait a sec, there’s no breakdowns or d-beats though...

So there’s thrashin’ a plenty, slicing and dicing pedal tones mixing it up with nasty melodies and harmonies topped off with some high rasping switching off between a somewhat metallic clean singing voice, though I can’t quite place where it would fit since it’s not a power metal voice.

It’s the quick busy action that pushes this album through, and it always sounds like there really are five guys doing something different at every time, and doing it fast. Most of the conviction makes up for the lack of creativity by beating their instruments hard enough to almost physically feel the catharsis. That energetic release also makes this album fun to listen to while you’re there. Energy is one of those things that youthful exuberance can make up for when lacking some true inspiration.

While for the most part this is Swedish inspired, you can still tell its melodic death metal done the American way. While some Swedish melodic death metal bands seem to go with a more streamlined, deliberate and slower delivery, Americans like a lot of their metal to be heavier, in this case with more low end in the guitars, and a little bit more of the nasty added to the harmonies to remove some of the serene ones.

In the same manner that Americans have traditionally preferred big engines with lots of displacement vs. the European small engines getting the job done with revs, “Singularity” is an American interpretation of melodic death metal.