I'm not going to spend a lot of time on The Queen of Kings by Montreal's Fayne. Mostly because this sort of music is targeted at a young audience and at 36 I feel anything but young. But also because regardless of age, there isn't much that's interesting about it.
Metalcore/deathcore is a tired genre whether the genre's backers want to admit it or not. And Fayne pretty much regurgitate the same recipe as a million other bands. Whiney emo vocals, like Alien Ant Farm covering Michael Jackson's “Smooth Criminal”, or a third-rate Chino Moreno, trade off with your typical death grunts.
(I kid you not, mere seconds after writing that Alien Ant Farm bit, a guy walked in on me and when I shut it off for him to use the phone he says “Oh I know that one! Smooth Criminal! Alien Ant Farm!” To which I replied “You'd think so. But no.”)
Breakdowns a plenty and that djenty lack of flow comprise the bulk of their sound, with a fair share of guitar acrobatics and emotive solos. Some of those breakdowns are worthy of breaking a chair over someone's face (in a good way) but it's nothing countless others can conjure up.
Stuff like this sells whether I like it or not. I suppose it does have a market (a buddy of mine likes it) among the melody deprived karate dancers. And for what it's worth it sounds good. But despite production values that make The Queen of Kings sound as clean as a waxed asshole, it doesn't change the fact that what's coming out is shit. And it doesn't smell like roses either.
Released November 20, 2014
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