Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Code Orange - I Am King (2014)

I'm glad to find a recent favorite band in Code Orange. Not only did their recent material help me find more interest in industrial metal, but their earlier albums are one spark that helped open my metalcore ears to more hardcore than melodic. Here's one album, I Am King!

Now that Code Orange was ready to face the world after their debut, they wanted to show that they're more than the hardcore kids they were earlier. That's one reason to drop the word "Kids" from their moniker. Having just reached age 20 on average, they decided to shake things up for their second album in an attempt to please the world they would soon travel. With their headbanging mix of hardcore, metal, rock, and a bit of drone, I Am King would stand out among other albums as a unique record.

The title track starts with opening and closing walls of distorted sound before the volume and power increase for their usual hardcore/metalcore. Following that is the intense "Slowburn", a menacing yet artful hybrid. "Dreams In Inertia" stands out as the bridge between the next two tracks that would be in contrast with one another... "Unclean Spirit" perfectly proves that point with evil grindcore torment that the more experienced listeners, like myself, would find this an easy breeze-through. "Alone in a Room" is the yang to the previous track's yin, here sounding more sludgy as part of keeping the intense spirit.

The more ambient-ish "My World" is another album highlight! Heaviness is still obvious in "Starve", but it actually sounds closer to dream-pop in the soft parts. Then it gets intense again in "Your Body Is Ready", sound as furious as The Locust.

"Thinners of the Herd" sounds quite thin in the instrumentation, but they can still break through with their hardcore attack. "Bind You" sounds more metal, but in a way that would metalize a band like At the Drive-In. The moody ending track "Mercy", closes the album mercilessly, though it sounds more repetitive than the impressive rest of the album. Still nothing to complain about...

Other than that slightly poor closer, the 28 minutes before it are absolutely pummeling and breathtaking. I'm telling you, in this league of band trying to bring back the heaviness of the earlier hardcore and metalcore and then some, Code Orange is king!

Favorites: "Dreams In Inertia", "Unclean Spirit", "Alone in a Room", "My World", "Your Body Is Ready", "Bind You"