Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Becoming the Archetype - Dichotomy (2008)
When I do reviews like this, I speak my honest opinions. I try not to sound too professional or amateur. I like what I like and I hate what I hate. Just because many people like or hate something, doesn't mean I have to do the same. Anyway, I can understand why people enjoy the roundabout into melodeath that is Dichotomy. While I love it too, reducing the progressive/metalcore elements for more brutal groove is a slightly odd move, and I don't see the album reaching the perfect glory of their first two albums.
Dichotomy is all about the body and soul. Not just for the band also within the word's meaning. The lyrics teach us that we don't see everything in the world, and some things we have to do differently from everyone else, which is what I've mentioned in that first paragraph; striving to be different!
The astonishing "Mountain of Souls" has great melody. There is so much riffing variety while frontman Jason Wisdom unleashes his wild roars. Canadian prog-metal mastermind Devin Townsend guest appears with his cleans and additional screams. The title track has clever writing to help clarify the concept, "They exchanged the incorruptible for the image of fallen man worshiped creature rather than creator the image rather than his hand". Also worth noting is more of the guest vocals by Demon Hunter's Ryan Clark, not just in the screams but also his tender cleans that have shaped up his main band's ballads. "Artificial Immortality" has leans into some of the melodic metalcore of Demon Hunter and Miss May I, with some modern elements that would later be adopted by The Interbeing and Bad Omens. Love that one!
"Self Existent" has some progressiveness left in the time signatures changing in the verses. Soon the music fades and segues into the interlude... "St. Anne's Lullaby" has gentle acoustic guitar to calm things down before another storm crashes in. "Ransom" marches on with the usual melodeath, though some of their earlier metalcore bleeds in, a bit like Bury Your Dead, and later planting the seed for Wolves at the Gate. "Evil Unseen" blends melodeath with haunting background synths similarly to Skyfire, with some slight ambience that Silent Planet would later have.
The old Christian hymn "How Great Thou Art" is given a metal remake (the kind of covers I like!), complete with the usual fast deathly riffing and gravelly growls, making it sound as if it's their own song. "Deep Heaven" has some metalcore from bands like August Burns Red and For the Fallen Dreams, along with soprano vocals by Suzanne Richter. "End of the Age" is an expansive epic to end the album, closing with heartful soloing as everything fades.
You gotta admire the band's different abilities that make Dichotomy an amazing album. Any fan of Becoming the Archetype can listen to this album and any of their other albums non-stop. All good for your body and soul!
Favorites: "Mountain of Souls", "Artificial Immortality", "Evil Unseen", "How Great Thou Art", "End of the Age"