The hype around metalcore and every other metal mix combinations is getting bigger and bigger. This debut album from the American band Apiary is also a mix from different sounds. The band has some Meshuggah rhythms and the difficult guitar riffs from The Dillinger Escape Plan. And on this album it isn’t the best of both worlds.

While listening the album I got the the idea that these guys try to play difficult riffs instead of nice songs. Compare this to math (some people also call this music mathcore), you make a lot of difficult exercises. But you don’t have eye for the whole project. Some solo’s on this album are brilliant but the songs don’t sound as a whole.

After listening the whole album I don’t have the idea these people a playing with conviction. There’s something missing. Don’t get me wrong; the musicians did a good job on the instruments and technically speaking the music is okay. But there’s something missing and I can’t describe exactly what.

The positive thing about this release is that the band produced the album by themselves. I really love when bands do that kind of stuff instead of hiring some expensive guy. Just a last note about this album: In the US this album is released throughout Ironclad Recordings (yes, that’s the label from the Unearth guy).