Will Haven - El Diablo (1997)^{Release ID: 26735}

One fine metal/hardcore experiment! Will Haven strip down their influences from various genres and build them back up with their own sound. It's been 25 years since this album was released, but when I finally reached it, it's like a fresh new experience. Everything in here has pounding rhythm, vicious guitars, and primal vocals. One moment, we have quiet guitar atmosphere with bass/drums atmosphere, and the next there's loud dynamic force.

The drums are so unique in their straight and simple style, and I wouldn't be surprised if they recorded them in a few days alongside guitars and bass. Yet they efficient unleash their energy in intense punches!

A well-done opener is "Stick Up Kid", starting with spooky guitar, a catchy drum beat, growling bass, and finally the heaviness kicks in with those powerful vocals. The album's grand highlight is "I've Seen My Fate", with the band's signature violence. "Ego's Game" has some of the best groove metalcore I've heard since their first two Lamb of God albums. The theme of disconnection can be found in the lyrics for "Mason".

Alcoholism is covered in the lyrics for "Climbing Out This Bottle". Then we have "Extinguish", another great highlight. "Baseball Theory" has a bit of the metalcore that bands like 36 Crazyfists and Dead to Fall would later have, albeit in a sludgy pace.

"June" has a bit of the prog-ish tendencies later found in Misery Signals. The slower "Foreign Film" is so brutal and beautiful at the same time. If there's one reason for you to listen to the finale "¡Escucha!", a 9-minute track of odd ambience, it is to have a better chronic auditory hallucination than a song by Burn the Priest (pre-Lamb of God) with that title. Strange yet mesmerizing!

With blasting vocals, plus dynamics ranging from relentless to menacingly soft, this is an example of an album with extreme influences from metal and hardcore. Perfectly diabolical, this is El Diablo!

Favorites: "I've Seen My Fate", "Ego's Game", "Extinguish", "Baseball Theory", "Foreign Film"