THE MAKAI

The End of All You Know

Seventh Rule
rating icon 6 / 10

Track listing:

01. Gotterdamerung
02. The Hound of Hades
03. Beast Born From Lies
04. The 10th Labour of Hercules
05. Battle Hymn
06. Sedna's Tale
07. Lady of the Lake
08. Fire Breathing Damsel Devourer
09. Spilling the Blood
10. The Plague of Time


California's THE MAKAI fit well with the Seventh Rule aesthetic in that "The End of All You Know" is noisy, guitar-heavy, and cranked up to the maximum. The band blends thrash and extreme metal, Swedish-influenced melodic death, and a good bit of chaotic hardcore. And for the most part, the band succeeds in doing so.

It did take me several listens to find out what bothered me about "The End of All You Know" though, as all of the elements of an impressive effort are here. The pace is relentless, the songwriting is solid, and the arrangements are written in a way that keeps each song from sounding like the next one. What I've decided is that Brandon Squyres' nerve-fraying scream vocals kept distracting me from the otherwise explosive tunes. As much as I can appreciate the guy's piss-and-vinegar delivery, his approach grates on my nerves. It makes me wonder how much more I would appreciate the compositions without said distraction. I'd not be surprised if others were fine with it though, so chalk it up to one man's opinion and find your own enjoyment in it.

Squyres' vocals aside, THE MAKAI excels at injecting its tunes with a controlled chaos that makes it seems as though the entire affair may fall apart at any moment. The furious pacing, rip-roaring riffs, and teeth-rattling drumming of Jessee Shreibman provide the listener with a range of styles and all-around cool musical segments. The album is not devoid of tunefulness either, as the melodic guitar lines and song structures in general can be rather alluring.

Don't get me wrong though, this is no genre-confused metalcore act. Rather, the group's abrasive mixture simply sounds like a band that has drawn influence from many different types of bands. The frequent use of mid-range death growls (presumably, courtesy of guitarist/vocalist Zeke Rogers) work well too, especially considering that they provide a reprieve from Squyres' nails-on-chalkboard delivery.

Overall, there is an intelligence and penchant for keeping things interesting on "The End of All You Know" — to some extent like the manner in which MASTODON composes its thunderous metal — that should bode well for future releases. I'd rate this one a 7 or 7.5 had it not been for my issues with the vocals, as they affected my enjoyment of the disc to such an extent that future listens are unlikely. As such, a 6 seems more appropriate.

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).