Beheading of a King - Quasar

I have mixed opinions on this album and Beheading of a King in general. A really love their breakdowns and riffs, but they have this "bi-polar" style about them. Some of their songs, especially on this album are quite stop-start and can be jarring.

To start things off, State is an eerie opener and transitions into Quasar. Quasar is a good example of BK's (Beheading of a King) style and why I don't really like their music. Everything seems a bit out of place and its all kind of mashed together with a breakdown thrown in. At one point the guitars have this power metal-esque tuning, then all of a sudden it changes into a distorted string similar to deathcore. Its mostly the same with the vocals too. The vocalist has this really great growl but often randomly dives into high-pitched singing which is OK, however it is just so out of place.

Bible Crumbles is, I think, what BK should be doing. This song is more consistent and the vocalist sticks to doing lower pitched singing (such as growling). Drumming is also top-notch and fits in really well with the powerful guitars. Overall probably my favourite song on the album.

A little further on, Reclaim this Gold is also another standout. The tuning on the guitars is absolute killer. However, towards the middle end of the song, things seem to lose focus and breaks down once again into a kind of mashed-up song. Really disappointing considering the great intro.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this album. I really don't like the style of BK. They're sort of tiring to listen to as songs seem to jump around the place. I don't have anything against metalcore, but this album is just not quite 'there'.

You can find Beheading of a King on their Last.fm page here.