Suspension of Consciousness marks the fourth full length by the UK’s BRUTALITY WILL PREVAIL. I was somewhat skeptical of this group at first, but after a couple more listens and remembering to keep an open mind, I was quite surprised by them. Many will try to label this music as Hardcore or Metalcore but I can see the lines becoming blurred while listening to these tracks.
The first two songs “Delirium” and “Tower of Silence” blend together smoothly with the latter being the opener that pulls you in with a prevalent bass hook over a tom-tom and bass drum introduction. I love when bands make sure the bass stands out, it is very important to have that foundation in any song. I’m automatically reminded of UNEARTH (circa-2002) and DEFTONES within the first few minutes. This first song is all over the place musically speaking; filled with raw, crunchy guitar tones and varying drum patterns from slow, to fast double bass, to blast beats. “Abandon” keeps the energy level on high while also showing the sludgy side of these guys. The closing sounds like something pulled from the swamps of New Orleans that KIRK WINDSTEIN would approve of!
Next up we have the first of a few short pieces on this offering. “Martyr-Anxiety” keeps it metal but hardcore at the same time with a huge breakdown at the end filled with angst-ridden screams; this is how a breakdown should sound. The guys take it down a couple notches to bring in “Pray for Cleansing” but don’t be fooled, they bring it back in with a cowbell!!! Yes!! MORE COWBELL!! We see more southern influence within this jam and also some superb drum fill work. The interlude “Ritual” takes you into more experimental territory. I was very surprised when I heard this instrumental that essentially splits this disc in half; you will notice more ambience within the second half.
The second half starts off similarly to the beginning with “Escapist” showing more diversity of genres with a slow groove working into straight up metal, following into FULL BLOWN CHAOS-style New York Hardcore. Again we come to another interlude, this time with the serene and perfectly titled “Celephais” which has to be inspired by the fantasy story by H.P. Lovecraft of the same name which is described as a “Dream of flying over city.” The next in line is one of my favorites, “Back to the Earth,” which I feel is one of the more metal offerings on this release; keeping it short and sweet, this one clocks in at 1:45.
“Burden of Love” brings me to the first part of this record that I’m not crazy about and it’s the singing; for some reason I can’t get past the clean singing in the first part of the song, but otherwise it’s a great tune. It starts out reminiscent of TOOL and also has a proper guitar solo. “La Máscara Mortuoria” which loosely translates to “Death Mask” is the aptly titled last acoustic interlude before the closer and title track “Suspension of Consciousness.” The intro reminds me of Domination-era MORBID ANGEL, which tells me this one is full of surprises. We see the album being perfectly summed up by this song alone; they take all of the elements used throughout and arrange it nicely, well done!
I recommend checking out Suspension of Consciousness if you are looking for a little more variety mixed in with your Hardcore or Metal in general. It’s available now via Siege of Amida Records.
STANDOUT TRACKS: “Tower of Silence”, “Martyr-Anxiety”, “Back to the Earth”, “Suspension of Consciousness”
RATING: 8.5/10
WRITTEN BY JOR-EL
