Focus Reviews

The Funeral Pyre - The Nature Of Betrayal
Style: Metalcore/Black Metal
Running Time: 43 Minutes and 8 Seconds
Label: http://www.creator-destructor.com/


Poised to take control of the newest wave of blackened metalcore( have they honestly got much of a fight in this territory at the moment ? ), we have here The Funeral Pyre's second release 'The Nature Of Betrayal', a 43 minute foray into cold, bitter territory. Has it been done before, yes in all honesty, but can The Funeral Pyre bring enough to the table in 43 minutes to make you think differently ?

The answer... for as bored as I was listening to this album, is still a yes. At 'The Nature Of Betrayal's best moments The Funeral Pyre seem to take on the face of a band that is trying their hardest to create something fresh sounding for the masses. That certainly leads to me feeling a bit of admiration for The Funeral Pyre and the way they play. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that throughout 'The Nature Of Betrayal' The Funeral Pyre seem to rely too heavily on their influences. Whereas I was hoping for groundbreaking new music, I instead got a trip down memory lane.

'The Nature Of Betrayal' honestly sounds as if it were recorded much more than a year ago. The instrumentation through 'The Nature Of Betrayal' can be described as very mature comparatively to metalcores usual stagnation on riffs and back work. For The Funeral Pyre I can say that their guitar-work is average, while I don't hear anything quite breathtaking it all plays nicely together and sounds fitting in standard verse chorus fashion. Occasional breaks from the standard mold are found throughout but rarely do they shine with much intensity. Vocal styling ranges from raspy high pitched scream to death metal growling.

The melding of these two almost opposing genres is somewhat fantastical. To think that not many bands have been able to pull the honest sound off is in itself refreshing for metal. The way 'The Nature Of Betrayal' plays out calls to mind bands like Undying, As Hope Dies and At The Gates respectively. The usage of keyboards to create an atmosphere for the music is very Dimmu Borgir-like or even Bleeding Through-esque. For their attempts The Funeral Pyre can be dealt some sympathy in the fact that their influences were great, and that they are trying to emulate them in intensity and ingenuity for genre mixing. But for the very same fact The Funeral Pyre is faulted on their formulaic behavior that we have all heard before.

Score: 5/10