Artist: A Traitor Like Judas
Label: Swell Creek Records
Release: 2010
Runtime: 36:20
Rating: 4.5/5
This time the band has clearly zeroed in on calmer melodies. They’re still swimming in the metalcore sea, except the tide is high, almost going out. As the intro to the album makes obvious, with its fairly cinematic, Enter Shikari-style feel, the guys have moved on with the times. It’s time to get serious and make something for kids, you could say. Anyone familiar with the local band The Language Of Thought Hypothesis might say they’ve found their doubles. But as much as ATLJ sound like tLOTH, they’re not the same in any respect. The music is more polished, loaded with emotion that reaches into every corner of the human heart. That’s the charm of this album. We can’t say it’s bad or that the guys are going downhill, because it’s exactly the opposite. True, we miss the aggression and the loyalty to the old German metalcore sound, but everything needs change. Maybe it wasn’t necessary, but it’s not superfluous either. As you can also tell, the number of breakdowns has dropped sharply, or they’re almost gone entirely. Bad news for the moshers, but good news for those who like to walk out of a gig without bruises. If we listen closely, the guitars even remind us of American rock sounds, and some riffs of the new Bring Me The Horizon stuff. In short, a mix of everything for everyone. And we can’t overlook that the guys switched labels, either. They swapped Goodlife for Swellcreek Records. Maybe the label had a hand in the change of sound we got from our coreheads. True vocals and melodic music clicked and stuck in our ears really well. Producer Kristian Kohlmannslehner obviously already knew what he wanted and what listeners want, and that’s exactly what he gave us.
Like I said earlier, Endtimes sounds like our own tLOTH. To be convinced, you have to hear the track Dead Hearts, and it’ll all be clear. What else is there to say? The guys surprised us. Some they disappointed, some they enchanted. Everyone should judge for themselves once they hear the new material. It would be nice if the guys played a gig or two in the near future. I doubt anyone would turn it down, apart from the tr00 hardcore/metalcore fans. ATLJ have their own crew backing them too. In short… you can’t just write these guys off, because they’re something more. As Oscar Wilde might have put it: “Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it’s always Judas who writes the biography.”
Lineup
Jesper Elter – vocals
Dennis Thiele – guitar
Jan Knackstedt – bass
Florian Kuhlmann – guitar
Phillip Resslhuber – drums
Production
Kristian Kohlmannslehner
Tracklist
1. Intro
2. At World’s End
3. Unsung
4. Mirror Image
5. Dead Hearts
6. Traitor’s Halo
7. Your Heroes
8. Systematic Reclusion
9. To The Wolves
10. We’ll Only Live As Long As We Chose To Carry On
11. Anchors Lost
