Esoteric - Subverter (Prosthetic)

Doggedly melancholy with catchy romantic melodies, Subverter sounds like a marriage between 90's post-grunge and 00's Coalesce style metalcore. The fuzz on this album is quickly overwhelming and although a few tracks begin to pull away from the relentless mid tempo metal-core, the album quickly subverts that progression and returns to a predictable sound.  Not to discredit the catchier moments, but I really can't get beyond how Helmet this album sounds. The throaty strains of Stevie Cruz rarely vary except on "Don't Waste Guts" where a distant and slightly distorted clean vocal meanders through spacey and progressive guitars. It is such a divergence from the rest of the album that it could be a guest singer, but I couldn't find anything about the track in the liner notes. The booklet includes shiny lyrics and a four-fold painting if you are into rabbit mutations and severed ears.

Kienan Almeida