Posted on: February 3, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Apiary is a current metal band. They do not play the style of music that is called progressive metal, but something that navigates between nu-rock, thrash, noise, and sludge to come up with something that is angular while being blunt, and mercilessly hard while still being nuanced. “Pain Is The Reason” is the first bullet in the air from Apiary, and while the band only lasts about three minutes in the track ,there is already a worry that the band will attempt to go back to the well too often to make this album a success.

However, the inclusion of a completely different-sounding guitar on “Descent” and enough material to make up for any perceived weakness during “Pain Is The Reason” puts the band back on a positive track. The strength of Apiary has to be the rapid-fire attitude of the band; each track is not linear as much as it is a piecemeal amalgamation of the best things the band could pull together during the creative process. What results is something that is like a snowball; the fury and heaviness of the band will sweep individuals away with its massive bulk. If someone that was not into metal would listen to “Lost in Focus”, their opinion might look something like this: “there is a lot of screaming, and the bad does not let themselves shine”. However, one should be easily able to pose a defense to that criticism; the band cannot pull out the wicked solos present in other bands quite nearly as often due to the interconnectedness of the band. If the guitars would go on a minute or two solo, the entire structure of the band would collapse.

This piecemeal approach to music allows certain themes to sneak into the albums taken as a whole; for example, the dichotomy between the bassy drums and the screamed out, lighter vocals is a struggle that comes back to listeners’ ears more times than one can count on “Lost in Focus”. The instrumental section at the beginning of “Omnipresence” just makes the introduction to the traditional hardness of Apiary that much more impressive. What was once relatively silent is now the same style of music that has ravaged listeners for twenty minutes (up to that point) and is that music that will continue to beat down listeners. Apiary is a behemoth, set on providing the most full and hard music out on the market. They do just that with this album.

Top Tracks: Omnipresence, Pain is the Reason

Rating: 6.9/10

[JMcQ]

Apiary – Lost In Focus / 2006 Metal Blade / 10 Tracks / http://www.apiarymusic.com / http://www.metalblade.com / Reviewed 10 July 2006

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