By now you know that Living Sacrifice's Lance Garvin (drums) and Rocky Gray (guitars) have a band with Chad Moore (vocals) called Soul-Embraced. They have several releases and the latest, Immune, is their second on Solid State Records. It's also their best written and produced record to date. Experienced producer Barry Poynter obviously brought some nice touches into the studio.
I hate to compare Soul-Embraced to the mighty monsters of metal, Living Sacrifice, but I will. What else can I do? After all, they do share members, and there are similarities. The guitar work is tight, and the beats are heavy, tribal, and fast, like LS. But Soul-Embraced also mixes in harmonies and clean vocals that LS would not. That distinguishes them from LS but also loses the hard-core fan that wants more metal and grind for their buck. The vocals of Chad Moore are not up to LS standards either. Bruce Fitzhugh of Living Sacrifice sings from his "gut", and even though he is using death metal voices, you can understand every word. Moore's voice is more "throat-y" and doesn't carry the power of Fitzhugh, or of the great Living Sacrifice. Well, that's enough of what Soul-Embraced isn't, let's talk about what it is.
Immune is interesting metal music. Not very original, but worthy of note, and well played. With the new record we also have the elements of melody and clean vocals mixed in with the fast paced distortion of past recordings, ala Demon Hunter. But to be fair, Immune is mostly heavy technical music. Solid State is leaving most of that mixed metal genre to Demon Hunter who pull it off much better than S-E.
Immune is a step in the right direction for Soul-Embraced. It's bold and resourceful, while keeping the crushing chugging guitars of Gray over the syncopated metal drums we love from Garvin. There is a lot to like here with room to grow.
3 tocks
Other coverage for this album
Decapolis May 2003Reviewed by Nate BaileySoul Embraced features members of Living Sacrifice and is signed to Solid State Records. This album is a follow up to their S.S. debut "This Is Our Blood." This was a disappointment. While still utilizing elements of death metal and hardcore, "Immune" was almost boring when compared to their last album. The songs lack the dynamic instrumental features that made their debut so great. The one stand…Art for the Ears 2003Reviewed by Marco PovervestStarted out as an aggressive death metal band, Soul Embraced is more and more incorporating metalcore influences. The fast speeds and black metal influences are almost gone now and instead you'll hear midtempo or slow paced metalcore with death metal vocals. As metalcore reached its zenith over the past seven years one might wonder if Soul Embraced has something new to offer to the scene.…Similar sounding releases
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