Chicago sons Veil Of Maya have been around for sometime now, with debut album All Things Set Aside celebrating it’s 10th anniversary last year. Their musical progression in this time has seen them transition away from deathcore into metalcore, and although the heavy vocal stylings associated with the former are present and correct across 6th album False Idols, it is also peppered with big clean vocals on the choruses such as on Fractures and Pool Spray.
There is allegedly a concept and a storyline behind this record, but to be honest I wouldn’t have known that just from listening. The musicianship here is clearly exceptional, the drums on Overthrow especially are frighteningly fast and the lead guitar lines all over this record are soaring and technical. Beyond this however, there isn’t a huge amount of this album that is memorable. Thumping staccato guitar lines and growled vocals followed by Linkin Park aping big choruses blend into one another with very little standing out even with repeat listens.
A record of this style suffers when bands like Architects are putting out music as strong as they are. They too play a modern metalcore blend with emphasis on technical and djent elements, but the quality of the songwriting is so high and there is something truly unique about their sound. In contrast Veil of Maya very much struggle to extricate themselves from the dirge that is a large part of the metalcore scene