{"id":74280,"date":"2020-09-23T11:19:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T16:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=74280"},"modified":"2020-09-30T15:55:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T20:55:20","slug":"unleash-the-archers-abyss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2020\/09\/23\/unleash-the-archers-abyss\/","title":{"rendered":"Unleash the Archers: Abyss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Canadian power metal band Unleash the Archers is one of the best metal bands in the country you\u2019ve never heard of. With absolutely amazing guitar play from Grant Truesdell and Andrew Kingsley, fantastic drum work by Scott Buchanan, and one of the most powerful voices in rock today with lead singer Brittney Slayes, UtA is once again dominating the metal scene with their fifth studio album, Abyss.<\/em>\u00a0This stroke of genius is a concept album and the long-awaited sequel to Apex<\/em>, which was selected as one of the top 10 metal albums of the year in 2017. Abyss<\/em> continues the interwoven story of The Immortal, and its journey from the \u201capex\u201d of the mountain down into the very depths of the \u201cabyss.\u201d Legendary Danish producer Jacob Hansen was once again brought on board to record, mix, and master this glorious adventure.<\/p>\n

Slayes\u2019 voice has such a powerful drive behind it, and has been compared to Jinjer\u2019s Tatiana Shmailyuk, Nightwish\u2019s Floor Jansen, or Epica\u2019s Simone Simons. UtA combines Slayes\u2019 Dio-esque vocals with the amazing runs, slides, and tabs of true power metal. Truesdell and Kingsley are treated like guitar soloists, and their technical precision and electrifying fretwork do not take a backseat to Slayes\u2019 vocals at all \u2013 which is no small feat. And don\u2019t forget the amazing double bass drum technique of Buchanan. This female-fronted melodic death metal band truly treats music as an art \u2013 honoring each other\u2019s strengths and is more than the sum of its parts. That band harmony can really be seen in their 2017 video for \u201cAwakening<\/a>.\u201d The band usually kicks off their live shows with this track, for good reason.<\/p>\n

Abyss is a rollercoaster ride of power metal riffs, incredible vocals\/screams, and tightly woven together storytelling. One of the things UtA does SO well with their music is the build-up, using rising action and power crescendos to build tension and expectation for the ultimate payoff. This album continues that philosophy with the very first track – the ethereal \u201cWaking Dream\u201d – which is basically a layered intro for the album\u2019s totally rockin\u2019 title track.<\/p>\n

The four songs on the album that have been released as singles are \u201cSoulbound,\u201d \u201cAbyss,\u201d \u201cFaster Than Light<\/a>,\u201d and the latest single, \u201cLegacy.\u201d A hidden gem on this album is \u201cReturn to Me,\u201d a soaring power ballad featuring Truesdell\u2019s guttural scream harmonization with Slayes. If you like great instrumentation, technical precision, and vocals that just pin your ears back, then Abyss<\/em> will be your latest earwig.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s really not a bad track on this album \u2013 from the smooth \u201cThrough the Stars\u201d to the powerful album closer \u201cAfterlife\u201d – and everything in between. Abyss attacks your eardrums (in a good way) and transforms the musical metal mayhem into their best album to date. When they set the bar as high as they did with Apex<\/em>, Unleash the Archers took that bar and blew it to smithereens with Abyss<\/em>. It truly shows how far the band has come in the last 13 years, and their future is VERY bright.
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: Jinjer, Amaranthe, Nightwish, Eleine, Epica
\nRecommended Tracks: 7 (Faster Than Light), 2 (Abyss), 6 (Soulbound), 4 (Legacy), 5 (Return to Me), 3 (Through Stars), 10 (Afterlife)
\nDo Not Play: Play them all. You’ll thank me later.
\nWritten by John V. Wood on 09\/23\/2020 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you enjoy bands like Judas Priest and Dio, then the new album from power metal band Unleash the Archers will be your new best friend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22146,"featured_media":74281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235,3230,181],"tags":[8521,8526,8527,8520],"class_list":["post-74280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-new-music-rotation","category-rock-rotation","tag-abyss","tag-john-v-wood","tag-melodic-power-metal","tag-unleash-the-archers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abyss-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}