Similar sonic stories are told on compact and catchy anthems like "Bursting Open" and "The Blind Eye", differentiating from the mainline symphonic metal sound primarily via a more virtuosic guitar demonstration and some quirky moments interspersed amid the vocal sections. It's not necessarily a weak offering, but it definitely errs on the side of simplicity from an instrumental standpoint and almost sounds like it could have been a B-side on a Comalies or Once associated single. The closest thing to a digression into prototypical symphonic metal with a gothic-edge radio fodder, namely massive YouTube and Spotify hit "What Lies Ahead", is about the closest thing on here to a direct nod to this niche, and features Lin's strong yet smooth vocals as the centerpiece. Then again, the nuance all but melts away completely on the chaotic cruiser "The Shrine", which basically goes full Arch Enemy mode with a side order of schizophrenic Cradle Of Filth vocal madness, rivaling "Incinerate" for the distinction of being the most intense offering on here.Īll of that being said, this is not an album that lives by unfettered speed and fury alone in fact, much of this album rests at a more moderate pace more readily associated with the likes of Lacuna Coil and Delain, albeit with a much heavier bottom end. "Dark Of The Day" follows a somewhat similar formula, though has more of a nuanced and melodic bent to it in between the kinetic moments during the verses. In total, the song proves to be a bit mixed up even by melodeath standards as Lin's angelic vocals combined with a deeper clean harmony out of Mazul has a decidedly gothic feel to it, and some of the slower moments have a modern groove character to them. The opening crusher "Incinerate" has more of a high octane thrashing quality to it that feeds into the aforementioned Arch Enemy comparisons, though the harsh vocal display is far more varied and, at times goes a tad overboard on the dramatics. This band's greatest asset, however, is to be found in the varied songwriting approach that is taken from one song to the next, which veers away from a typical symphonic act after the mode of Epica and Nightwish quite brazenly. Augusto injects a mix of progressive and even some occasional industrial elements into the equation. But a closer inspection of the nuances going on between these obvious points of comparison is where things get a bit interesting, as Mazul's various harsh and clean vocalizations run the gamut of modern metal personas, often showcasing a range of low-end barks to higher ranged shrieks normally reserved to Dani Filth, while the employment of keyboard work courtesy of J. Even the flashy lead guitar work of Juliano Ribeiro has a strong affinity for the wild technical showmanship often featured out of Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott. The visual involved makes for a music video template that would play perfectly to fans of the current incarnation of Arch Enemy and also Alissa White-Gluz's former outfit The Agonist, and the most predominant metal sub-style in the music behind the voices has a sort of melodeath meets metalcore flavor that dovetails with both. To be fair, the element of this band that probably proved the biggest viewer draw was the beauty and the beast vocal combination of front man and co-founder Sérgio Mazul and the angelic, blue-haired siren and vocal foil Mizuho Lin. Where some might be befuddled at the sudden meteoric rise of this band to millions of plays on YouTube and a correspondingly high level of activity on various streaming sites, the reality is a band that has been plugging away at things for the better part of eight years by the time their highly popular 2014 sophomore LP Lunar Manifesto was unleashed upon the masses, and one sporting a blend of various metal styles that is fairly unique despite a seemingly by-the-numbers Epica-styled niche at its exterior. Likewise, this tendency doesn't necessarily result in a band being unfairly dismissed as there is some genuine crap out there, but in the case of the highly visible, gothic-tinged metal act hailing from Brazil known as Semblant, the glorified mallcore label just doesn't fit. It's not unique to the metal scene, but said crowd tends to catch a bum rap of being the only ones reacting to the success of a new act negatively due to the often extreme nature of the reaction itself. There is something appealing about trashing the latest craze.
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