French deathcore/metalcore six-piece Betraying The Martyrs are back with album number three. The Resilient is the first to feature new drummer Boris Le Gal who joined the band last year.
The album starts with Lost For Words. The track starts with heavy guitars and blasting drums music before frontman Aaron Matts kicks in with his roaring vocals. This song also features a lot of clean singing from keyboardist Victor Guilet and also features symphonic, operatic type singing and music in the background at times to make this a wonderful opener.
One thing becomes obvious over the next few songs: Matts and Guilet compliment each other really well. The two share vocals duties and Guilet’s singing really complements Matts’s heavy growls well.
This album has a strong theme of unity of the French people and people around the world taking a stance against the rise of terrorist attacks with lyrics like: “They’ll never break us down. No, we stand strong,” (The Resilient) and “Won’t back down, we won’t back down. We stand united as one and forever,” (Won’t Back Down) it’s a powerful message and is well conveyed on a couple of stand out tracks.
The main problem I find with metalcore (as this is more a metalcore release than a deathcore one) is it’s hard to find a band that stands out. A lot of them sound very similar with their heavy vocals, clean choruses and breakdowns. While The Resilient isn’t necessarily a major standout album in the genre, it’s a damn solid album that is well produced, and if you’re a metal fan, you should check out.
