Pequod - Forgotten

Almost seven years after their debut EP in 2004, Pequod- aptly named after the doomed ship in Moby Dick- release their first full length album. It is a multi-faced hybrid of thrash, death metal, and metalcore, all blended together for a heavy, yet enjoyable listen. The album's concept somewhat follows the Moby Dick story, but it is the music that will really keep listeners gravitated. The album opens with the brief, thrash inspired instrumental "Bleed" before letting the full song counterpart "... To Death" take over. The music is composed to heavy, churning riffs that sometimes switch over to the more melodic and seamless flow, but more often than not listeners will get the metalcore chug of fury that just pounds away. The vocals are a mix between growls, bellows, and snarls that are much more diverse than one might expect for a metalcore thrash band. It is not as diverse as maybe using contrasting clean and harsh vocals, but one can certainly pick up the differences when each part comes on. Other tracks like "Sickness" have more of the typical metalcore structure by featuring somewhat melodic chugging, and the band tries to keep it as foreboding as possible by mixing in other melodies within for a wild ride of a track.

"A Vortical Experience" lends more towards the thrash output of the music by making things more catchy but still involving the heavy chugs. Thankfully, they are more varied in pace instead of just following in the same pattern all over again. However, as the album begins to close up, listeners might notice that the group tends to lean more towards the metalcore side on the last few tracks, going more for cohesive rhythm when it comes to a track like "A Hunter's Tale" rather than a progression of rhythm to outstanding solos, and back again, etc. While these tracks are solid, at the same time Pequod denies itself the ability to really 'show off' any superior musicianship. So they're good, but not great, and nor bad. Overall, the group has the vocals and the rhythm going best for them- there is no denying that the band has skill in that. For those who are averse to metalcore, this may be a bit better than expected because the death metal and thrash parts help make this much more than just a generic release.

  1. Bleed...
  2. ... To Death
  3. Sickness
  4. Tragedy
  5. To Depart
  6. A Vortical Experience
  7. Forgotten
  8. My Redemption
  9. Life's A Lie
  10. A Hunter's Tale
  11. D.R.O.W.N.

Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jul 10, 2011

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