French symphonic ‘deathcore’ act Betraying the Martyrs have spent the best part of the last two years working on The Resilient. This is their third full length record and the highly anticipated follow-up to 2014’s Phantom.
The atmospheric beginning of opener Lost For Words provides a false front of a calmer track, however the guttural growls of Aaron Matts offset that and are in your face and perfectly contrasted by the clean vocals of Victor Guillet. Take Me Back begins with smooth, calm clean vocals before a short riff and the return of guttural growls. Again the contrasting vocals work together very well. The Great Disillusion is an angry track that has me headbanging in the middle of my university library (people are looking at me weird!)
Dying To Live gradually brings you in with the repetition of ‘I hear a voice’ fading in to the building intensity of the keys before bringing in a strong drum beat. Title track The Resilient has the feel of a war coming (think of the music that’s always played as people go to battle in a war and that’s kinda the feel) and it is attention grabbing. The chorus is massive and there is a brilliant riff. Won’t Back Down has a massive hook. Closing track Wide Awake begins with a riff and drum combo and a catchy ’40 days 40 nights we live our dreams’ chorus.
The album seems to focus more on the vocals than the instrumentation which just seems to be a bit of background noise, albeit brilliant background noise! The atmospheric overlay of each track adds a unique feel to the ‘deathcore’ genre. Vocally, the contrast between Aaron and Victor is flawless and perfectly offset each other. There is the right amount of cleans and screams in each track to compliment both vocalists and the instrumentation. It has definitely been worth the two year wait!