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Apiary

Lost in Focus

Written by: TL on 03/05/2006 11:45:13

In two days, the world will witness the debut album of Californian hardcore act Apiary. “Lost in Focus” is promoted as being something new and innovative, but it seems to me, that there’s little new to experience on this album if you’ve already heard stuff from “Converge” or “Dillinger Escape Plan” (and let’s just face it, if you haven’t then there’s probably no chance you’ll listen to this record more than once). It’s basically just more of the same good stuff you know.

Apiary utilizes the quite ordinary twin-guitarists, vocalist, drummer, bassist, band-setup, and they play a pretty brutal doze of hardcore. From start to end, Lost in Focus is dissonant breakdown upon dissonant breakdown, with ‘singer’ Jason Ingram screaming his lungs out on top of just about every second. This band would probably be considered very skilled and original by most open-minded listeners, but for the experienced hardcore-fans, there isn’t that much originality to be found. Not to say this is a bad album at all. The level of technical musicianship is undoubtedly really high and same goes for the production. Some songs like the opener “Pain is the Reason” have more to offer than others, but the tracks seem to sound a lot like each other, and towards the end of the album, the recipe the songs follow starts to get a bit tedious.

For any hardcore-fan this is an interesting listen. If you’re not into the genre then there’s little chance you’ll ever want to put this CD on more than the first time though. It is really brutal, and there’s little respite to be found among the relentless riffs and screams, but if that is your kind of thing, then Apiary absolutely won’t disappoint. I will play this CD rarely but I cannot justify giving it a bad review. If nothing else, it will be perfect for sending my mom running out of my room screaming…

Download: Descent, Pain is the Reason
For the fans of: The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge
Listen: MySpace

Release date 05.05.2006
Ironclad Recordings / Metal Blade Records
Provided by Target ApS

Related: Apiary interview