Friends are Temporary, Ego is Forever
Flat Earth Socity
From Art Gates' artist page, "FLAT EARTH SOCIETY is a Progressive Contemporary Metal four-pieced combo formed in 2018. The music consists in an explosive combination of aggressiveness, precision & experimentation. FES has no limits in terms of creativity. Their main goal is to reign in the national scene and the conquer the international stages. In 2019 the band records their debut album "Friends are Temporary, Ego is Forever", recorded, mixed and mastered at The Metal Factory Studios by Alex Cappa and produced by Pablo Rousselon. It is to be released in the beginning of 2020."
"Pray" leads off the album. It opens with a full Metalcore sound, with harsh vocals and dancing guitars. It stays pretty constant throughout. "Ligma" opens with some Progressive elements, particularly in the meter shifts. The clean harmonic vocals in the chorus help to temper some of the more aggressive elements. "Danko" features more of those heavy and aggressive guitars and vocals...so far they have not presented anything different than thousands of other bands in the genre, but their playing as a group is quite tight. "Legfist" opens with solemn clean guitar notes and some noticeable bass work. Alejandro is a beast on the kit. The guitars branch out a bit here, showcasing the band's musicianship.
"CC Chain" features more of those wonderful Progressive elements, but the vocals are becoming quite annoying and there is little variation offered. When the clean vocals come in, there is indeed some variation but the harsh vocals are just so intense, it's hard to concentrate on anything else. "Disarray" has some diversity in the vocals...presented as high screams and low guttural offerings. The main riff is just a bit too simple for me. The spoken words do bring another element to the table, as does the harmonic cleans. "The Gravity Paradox" offers a bit more from the start. I like the way the guitar riff dances around and doesn't stay static, but again those raging vocals keep the attention on themselves and it's hard to take in anything else.
"Tortuga" closes the album. It opens with melancholy clean guitars, and the promise of something a bit different. When the distorted guitars some in, they really make a nice mark. This is about as tight as it gets. Overall, it was difficult to give this album a rating. The musicianship was absolutely fantastic, and it showed moments of pure domination and brilliance. But, the effort was a bit inconsistent for me, probably because it's their debut album. All the talent is there for sure, but they just need to find a way to temper some of the harsh vocals a bit more, as they become fairly overwhelming pretty quickly into the album. If, however, you are big fan of relentless harsh vocals, you may find this album to your liking. Overall, good, but some room for improvement....and I would definitely keep an eye on these guys.
7 / 10
Good
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production
"Friends are Temporary, Ego is Forever" Track-listing:
1. Pray
2. Ligma
3. Danko
4. Legfist
5. CC Chain
6. Disarray
7. The Gravity Paradox
8. Tortuga
Flat Earth Socity Lineup:
Daniel Correa - Vocals
Carlos Gonzalez-Aller - Guitar
Rafael Herrera - Guitar
Jesus Espinosa - Bass
Alejandro Castro - Drums
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