Shattered Sun return with their sophomore effort, bringing more metalcore to the masses while avoiding the clichés of the genre…
The south Texas band Shattered Sun trace their origin back to 2005 and since then have managed to share the stage with the likes of legends like Testament and Exodus, supporting them on the Dark Roots of Thrash Tour and in summer of this year (2017) joined the Warped Tour for part of that run. Interestingly, even with the success and acclaim from their first album, Hope Within Hatred (2015), the band nearly self-destructed before recording The Evolution of Anger. In late 2015, guitarist Daniel Trejo decided to leave the band and other issues that came to the surface put the second album in question. In the end, Daniel came back and the band realized that chances like they were given were few and far between. The band worked with producer Mark Lewis (Devil Drive, Fallujah) in their hometown to narrow down the 26 songs to the 10 that made it onto The Evolution of Anger, and artist Marcelo Vasco (Slayer, Machine Head) was brought in for the album art depicting how anger can drive one into a maze that does nowhere, capturing the essence of the album and a bit of the band’s own struggles.
Metalcore tends to be one of the most maligned genres, at least at the moment. Repetitive, predictable, and formulaic are some of the common criticisms leveled at the music and, honestly, I tend to agree with much of that. Shattered Sun manage to avoid most of the common criticisms, especially the overreliance on ubiquitous breakdowns. In fact, there may not be any on the album, so if you’re looking for those and think they are a key aspect to metalcore, you’d be best served to move along. In a lot of ways, having never heard Shattered Sun before, they do remind me a bit of Killswitch Engage or even older All That Remains, with the main difference being that the clean vocals are not as prominent in Shattered Sun’s songs. They do tend to be there but are often accompanied by Marcos Leal’s heavier, gritty screamed vocals.
The album opens with one of the best tracks on the album, “Keep Your Eyes Shut”. A couple drum hit and then some heavy guitars and a driving, pounding rhythm, just reaches out and grabs you. Screamed vocals shift slightly to less on the edge and then the clean vocals in the chorus come in, briefly, before the song reverts back to that pounding rhythm. The clean vocals manage to avoid falling into the trap of sounding whiny as well and fit within the song. Add in a guitar solo and the band does also sound a bit like labelmates Darkness Divided, who incidentally are also from Texas.
“Blame” continues along the same lines but features some fast double bass drums to drive things along from the beginning of the song. The fast pace slows for the clean chorus but as mentioned before, the gritty, lead vocals accompany the chorus and somewhat mask the clean vocals. “Declassified” introduces some greater variety in the guitar parts and structure which is a nice turn. The song itself is a rage-filled rant against complacency in our society with the way things are and it is definitely hard to argue with that sentiment. “Hollow Chains” further shakes up the riffs and structure again adding variety to stave off the monotony. By this point on the album, though, the songs are starting to blend together in terms of tone, emotion and style. Performances are strong from the riffs and solos from the guitars to the solid pounding rhythm section and solid production and mixing, one can tell that a lot of time and effort went into this album, capturing the talent in the performances. Unfortunately, I was left with the feeling that I’ve heard this before. Very difficult to put your finger on, but there just don’t seem to be any standout moment on the album, but that being said, there is not one bad song on the album, a rarity based on albums I’ve heard this year.
On The Evolution of Anger, Shattered Sun deliver ten songs of rage-filled fury underscored by a pounding rhythm section and carried by driving riffs, delivering a solid contribution to the metalcore releases of 2017, while avoiding the clichés typically associated with the genre.
Rating: 7/10
Written by John Jackson
Track Listing:
1. Keep Your Eyes Shut
2. Blame
3. Declassified
4. Hollow Chains
5. Out For Justice
6. Die For Nothing
7. Burn it Down
8. Like Gasoline
9. Terminal
10. Hope Dies
Band Members
Daniel Trejo – Guitar
Joseph Guajardo – Bass
Henry Garza – Keys/Vocals
Jessie Santos – Guitar/Vocals
Robert Garza – Drums
Marcos Leal – Vocals
Record Label: Victory Records, July 2017
Video for ‘Burn it Down’
Video for ‘Hollow Chains’