It took me about 10 seconds to fall in love with As They Sleep's debut Blacken the Sun. A simply solid tech death metal album. Dynasty didn't grab me right away.
While my first time through the record didn't have me falling in love with the album, by the third time through I was sold. It's nice to hear a very technical death metal record and not have to hear breakdown after breakdown. A metal record with no core attached to it is very nice.
Right from the get go, Dynasty is fast and heavy. The drums keep a fast pace, and while super triggered replaced drums normally annoy me, in this genre, on this album it works for me. It's expected and that's fine to me. Aaron Bridgewater's vocals are on point. From his low death metal growls to his high pitched screaming there's never a dull moment vocally. While the riffs aren't anything to write home about, the guitars are solid. The album has just enough melodic moments to keep it from being stale, without ever losing it's heaviness. There are no clean vocals, which almost come standard on metal records these days.
While my quibbles with this record are minor, there is a couple. First is the lack of guitar solos. Attila has one and it's nice but the overall record is lacking solos and my favorite part of metal is the guitar solo. My other issue is minor and it's only an issue because it's clichés. Dynasty does have the standard, low-key instrumental track in the middle of the record. While it's not terrible and doesn't offend me, it's just so cliché that I sigh when I hear it.
Overall Dynasty is great. While I've come to appreciate deathcore a little bit this year (In the Midst of Lions), it is very nice to hear a record that isn't held in this dimension of having to have breakdowns to please the kids. It's the heaviest album Solid State has put out in year. Death metal fans will want to give this album a listen.
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