BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE, I Am (2012, Solid State)

The skull:
So THAT’S why all those hipster beardos grow such abominable facial hair. Here I thought they just had poor taste, when they suffer from some kind of skeletal abnormality. Is there no cure? Perhaps a telethon is in order. These men need help.

The music:
Cramming together basically every flavor of modern metal, Becoming the Archetype are a tour through all the ways kids have shitty taste. Djenty polyrhythms that go nowhere, slam breakdowns, guitar “sweeps” that are clearly pieced together note by note, etc. To be fair, this is far from the worst modern band I have heard. They’re pretty good players, and they do occasionally turn out a nice riff. But, the vocals are horrible, the bible-thumping lyrics fairly silly (you can’t be hard-ass toughs and convincingly praise the lord at the same time, although it’s funny when they write from god’s pov), and there’s no evidence that this band even wants to distinguish itself from the hundreds of other bands doing the same thing. If you own a lot of bands with seven syllable names, then you probably already own something by these guys, and maybe you want another one. Otherwise, you do not want.
— Friar Johnsen