Song Review: Wovenwar - The Mason

As a big As I Lay Dying fan and a fan of the incarcerated vocalist's other project, Pyrithion, I've been keeping my eye close to Wovenwar. It's clear they've been working incredibly hard on it and it seems that they've reached a finishing point since there's a North American release date. The album is available to pre-order at their website and on iTunes (there you can also purchase the two tracks that serve at the album's singles; I have a long-winded opinion on this, but that's for another time and another thread).

On a side note, looks like I was right about my prediction. All the tracks are between three to four minutes long, not counting the intro and outro.

Now moving on to talk about the track itself. What are my initial feelings?

https://soundcloud.com/metalbladerecords/wovenwar-the-mason/s-crvVb

Now forgive me as I'm not in the best mood right now. Not really in a reviewing mood and I should be in bed. 5:00 AM for work, dude. What a pain. Anyway, let's get on with it and see what my tired brain can come up with.

The song itself feels a little more melodic than "All Rise," and that may not necessarily be a good thing considering what's on display here. The riffs here don't feel fresh, they don't feel like fruitful invigoration of an individual entity of members in one unique entity willing to separate itself from its painful past. Really, the riffs sound reminiscent of what could been potential riffs for B-sides from Awakened. I can feel it particularly in the opening riff, which I admit is actually pretty good, but it doesn't sound like Wovenwar. It sounds like As I Lay Dying if they were forcibly castrated. That's kinda harsh, yes, but what else can I say? It doesn't sound original for the band.

This song reeks of generic one note chugga-chugga-chugga, alt. metal/metalcore, even more so than "All Rise." While that song had radio-friendly tendencies and stunk of generic metalcore at times, it wasn't as offensive as this little number. The production sounds much better than what I heard in "All Rise." Then again, that's to be expected. This song was streamed much closer to what would be the finished product, so it sounds fuller. However, not that much so. I already spoke my peace before. No need to retread old waters. Clear tremolo picking on this one, which is impressive considering the genre this falls under.

Vocals? Don't have much to say about them. They don't sound as convincing or powerful than on "All Rise." I don't know what to say here. I have to say that I HATE the screams. Utterly despise them. Harsh screams were expected to be in there, not even hinted at. They WERE going to be in there, but deep down in my heart, I didn't want them because I knew they were going to suck. And that's not comparing the Shane Blay to Tim Lambesis. This is looking at it surely from an objective point-of-view as I'm listening to the music. He can't scream. I've heard Christian rock/metal bands like Red and that band has a much better screamer and lead singer. MUCH better.

That's all I've got. Sorry if it's not well articulated, but I'm really damned tired and I actually wanted to post an old review I posted elsewhere.

Don't kill me if it's not that good, but the song isn't even good and it kinda killed my boner in wanting to get the whole album. Don't know if I wanna pre-order it anymore, but at least one song is really good so far.

Overall: 5 metal horns our of 10

Pros
Decent production
Bass is better-sounding
Good vocals

Cons
Generic metalcore and one-note riffing
Screams are lame
Lame lyrics
Boring song, overall