Mid-Week Review: "Birth and the Burial" by Act of Defiance

The third week of August played host to many new hard rock/heavy metal releases. This week's review will be focusing on Disturbed's "Immortalized", Ghost's "Meliora" and Act of Defiance's "Birth and the Burial". Each album will be judged track-by-track, with a total average score being presented in the end. Here is review 3 of 3...

BIRTH AND THE BURIAL 

by ACT OF DEFIANCE

1. THROWBACK

What happens when half of Megadeth part ways with Dave Mustaine and finally let their skills come alive? You get Act of Defiance! Most noticeably recognised as the band formed by ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover, Act of Defiance couldn't be any more different to their original band, Throwback is a face-melting, guitar shredding, gut wrenching thrash metal masterpiece! Alongside Broderick and Drover, vocalist Henry Derek and bassist Matt Bachand join together to create this brilliant piece of metal goodness.

Lyrics: 4/5
Musicality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

2. LEGION OF LIES

Coming off the high that was Throwback, Legion of Lies is a wonderful mixture of aggression, passion and harmony. Despite Derek's brutal vocal delivery and Broderick/Bachand's awesom rhythmic execution, I had high hopes that Shawn Drover would shine through in this track, but alas, that did not happen.

Lyrics: 3/5
Musicaity: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

3. THY LORD BELIAL

For such an awesome title for a song, I found Thy Lord Belial to be quite boring to be honest. The originiality in the track was very little, with most, if not all riffs sounding like in came out of a Slayer jam session. Despite my dissapointment with the instrument side of this track, I found the lyrics and the vocal deliverance of Thy Lord Belial to be passionate and even mesmerizing at times.

Lyrics: 4/5
Musicality: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

4. REFRAIN AND RE-FRACTURE

Definitely my personal favourite of this generally awesome album, Refrain and Re-Fracture not only delivers in power and punch, but also delivers on the levels of crowd movement. I can garuntee you that whenever this song is played, the crowd is sure to go absolutely nuts! Derek's vocals once again, shine through immensely in this song, and the entire band's game is on point in Refrain and Re-Fracture

Lyrics: 4/5
Musicality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

5. DEAD STARE

This song hits you like a ton of bricks right to the sack! If there was any reminder that the spirit of 80s Thrash Metal is alive in today's day and age, it's Dead Stare. From the thrashy introduction, the track begins to slow down into a more composed, passionate section of riffs and deep lyrics, only to be interrupted by Broderick's shred tendencies, which is never a bad thing! I must say, this song is sick!

Lyrics: 3/5
Musicality: 5/5
Originality: 3/5

6. DISASTROPHE (A NEW REALITY)

With an opening riffs that just oozes suspense, this track builds up in a huge way, only to explode into a full frontal assault of harsh vocals, double kick drum beats and fast-tempo rhythms and melodies, Disastrophe is the type of song that grabs you by the throat and doenst let go until the song is over. Although the lyrical themes are a bit overused by now in the album, they still hold some merit due to the effective deliverance they're presented via. 

Lyrics: 3/5
Musicality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

7. POISON DREAM

Opening with a stringed quartet and a piano, you're almost garunteed the word "epic" will be used in these next few sentences. But to put it in the shortest way possible, that intro is EPIC! The rest of the track doesn't hold the same epicness as it had during the intro, but Act of Defiance still keep it together, thrashing through and through to produce another awesome piece of heavy metal! Bonus points to Derek once more for his demonstration of his superb death growls during certain sections of the track.

Lyrics: 4/5
Musicality: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

8. OBEY THE FALLEN

Obey the Fallen is by far, the best showcase of Henry Derek's vocal ability, reaching near-soprano screeches, amazingly powerful thrash vocals and even quite brutal death growls. This track is also testament to the amazing skill of Mr. Broderick, with his talent on the fretboard being unleashed once more, to produce one hell of a set of guitar solos. The drum fill in this song are technical and suiting and the bass guitar is actually recognisable, which in thrash metal is quite a challenge to do.

Lyrics: 5/5
Musicality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

9. CRIMSON PSALM

I'm personally not a big fan of the opening riff, it seems a bit too simplistic for the kind of techincal prowess Act of Defiance  is capable of. Nevertheless, this song still maintains my interest for this band with the same formula they have been using on most tracks of this album. My only hopes for this song was that the tempo would speed the f**k up and bring the tempo above the 200s, which never happened...Atleast I got a few more of those juicy Broderick solos to salivate over.

Lyrics: 3/5
Musicality: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

10. BIRTH AND THE BURIAL

The final track and their title track, Birth and the Burial begins with a cascading intro with all the instruments eventually joining the fray, definitely a common technique used in heavy metal. This song is a lot softer than the rest of the album, which I had hoped would not be the case. Nevertheless, Act of Defiance delivers a fantastic song, packed with lyrical depth and instrumental proficiency. This is definitely a more than satisfactory ended to a f**king sick album!

Lyrics: 4/5
Musicality: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

FINAL THOUGHT

Upon leaving Megadeth, Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover were out to send a message to only their former overlord, Dave Mustaine, but to the rest of the heavy metal community. Their message was in the form of extreme-thrash metal outfit Act of Defiance. Their debut album is a showcase of the ferocity and power of Megadeth's former mercenaries mixed with the passion and un-restricted musical freedom. Although some tracks in this album just dont grab my attention, the good majority are sure winners in my book! An awesome album by an awesome band that I hope to see live very soon! (Soundwave 2016 perhaps?)

VERDICT

Lyrics: 37/50

Musicality: 41/50

Originality: 33/50

TOTAL: 74% - CREDIT
Broderick and Drover may be out of Megadeth, but their music is still kicking arse!