DEAD WAKE “Ghost Stories”

Unsigned, 2017

Music: Progressive Metalcore / Melodic Metalcore
Website:
https://m.facebook.com/DeadWakeBand
http://deadwakenyc.bandcamp.com
Duration: 38 minutes (8 tracks)
Country: USA

As a fan of Progressive Metalcore, I’m always on a hunt for new bands so as to analyse the future of this particular genre. Dead Wake is a new addition to this fascinating genre. Their debut album, Ghost Stories is their first offering. To be honest the reason I looked upon to this album is that it was produced by Kevin Antreassian, the Guitarist of the Infamous Mathcore outfit-The Dillinger Escape Plan, at Backroom Studios. With him on the Production, Ghost Stories flaunts 10 melodic tracks with each one of them done to perfection.

Blending Progressive Elements to Melodic Metalcore sound is not that easy since whilst performing this experimentation, one might get a bland and boring sound when done without much attention but on the other hand when done perfectly, The sound will take you to whole new dimension. Luckily enough, Dead Wake manages to transport us to a whole new dimension where one get an eternal and euphonic music. The Album showcases pretty much everything, Ranging from Chuggy breakdowns to harmonic solos, Instrumentation is marvellous and a slight Math Metal tone makes it even more complex and Technical. Math Metal Influence?!; Yes I did Say Math Metal. Upon close inspection we can get a tinge of Math Metal in the form of Odd Time signature guitar patterns which leads to a chuggy-downtuned Breakdown.

To experience the Math Metal vibes I suggest y’all to take a quick spin of The Cycle . One among the best tracks on this album, The Cycle manages to keep the listeners hooked and prepared for what is about to come next. Just as one completes The Cycle, the band makes sure to throw more complex and harmonic riffage when the title track Ghost Stories hits the playlist.  This 6 minute track describes these talented musicians as a Band as all the elements are perfectly integrated. I have to say, The Band completely utilised Kevin, Guitar virtuoso as the Guitar passages are perfect. In a generation where newer bands keep Chuggy Breakdowns in the transitions Dead Wake bring in the harmonic solos to facilitate the transition from lead to breakdown. Moving onto the Vocals, I don’t see a lot of mistakes apart from the less-punchy Clean vocals which fails to give us chills. However the Screams are almost perfect and the constant swapping from Cleans to Screams works well. With every track done to perfection It is clear that boys over Dead Wake are Perfectionists, Ideally blending broad range of influences to form a single dissonant sound which is catchy enough to put the entire record on repeat.

That Being Said, I enjoyed every single second on this album. If you are a fan of Melodic Metalcore or Progressive, You should buy this album asap and I doubt you will get dissapointed. Relentless breakdowns to keep Melo Metalcore crew hooked and Euphonic solos to keep the Prog Snobs mesmerized. However for people who like straight forward music with less complexity might find the Odd Time Signature perplexing but they will surely enjoy the breakdowns and solos. Dead Wake has a bright future ahead of them and I will definitely follow these guys to keep on track with their future releases.

Tracklist:

1 Time to Die
2 Growing Pains
3 WrongThink
4 The Cycle
5 Ghost Stories
6 Empire
7 Alive & Breathing
8 Wake Up

Line-up:

Sam Smith – Vocals
Robert Zahn – Bass/Vocals
Steven Drizis – Guitar
Marc Capellupo – Drums

Rate: 8.5/10