With what sounded like an airstrike, Obey The Brave’s debut full-length, Young Blood, got my hopes up for an ear-catching release. However, that wasn’t the case, and the 11-track disc ended up being another generic metalcore album. The Canadian quintet pays more attention to producing slamming tracks and less attention to melodies and harmonies. The entire release features thrash worthy breakdowns but “It Starts Today” has one of the heaviest ones on Young Blood. Obey The Brave continues their Epitaph debut with the rage-fueled “Live And Learn,” which is pushed forward by harsh yet nimble guitar licks and lethal growls. The band impressed me with a song entirely sung in French, “Garde La Tête Froide.” The fact that the quintet could take such a beautiful language and twist it into something so grotesque is truly an accomplishment within itself.
Young Blood gets a bit of glitz added to it with the slow, experimental and completely instrumental “Grim,” which lays the foundation for “Get Real” to come booming in without the slightest bit of warning. Even with the disc’s rough beginning, Young Blood finishes strong. The deep and haunting “Unstoppable” caught my ear and started a slight uprising within my core. Much like gunfire raining down over the city, “Early Graves” shoots in and tears through this fictional land before the finale, “Burning Bridges,” finishes what its predecessor started. During the song, the band opts to add in some cleanly sung vocals to counteract with the sheer face-melting breakdowns.
Even though Obey The Brave hit some rough patches, the quintet finished Young Blood strong. Though the disc was slightly tiresome to listen to, it’ll certainly act as a no-nonsense album to get one’s anger out to.
In A Hyphenated Word: So-So
