Century Media
2008
Ley Lines
About This Album
Ley Lines are invisible, theoretical alignments said to connect ancient monuments and artifacts across the globe, so perhaps this esoteric concept can explain how listeners are supposed to make heads or tails of Embrace the End's outrageously convoluted music. We're exaggerating...A metallic hardcore band at heart, the Sacramento outfit does go to great lengths to embellish that genre's increasingly tired primary attributes with considerable twists and turns, bringing them closer to the Dillinger Escape Plan's head-spinning math metal (ergo Byzantine mutations like "Cop in a Cage" and "Sport the New Plague"), than Killswitch Engage's more straightforward and melodically savvy template (approached only by the uniquely deliberate "Pity and the Road to Ruin," here). But even their most intricate creations -- tracks such as "Intensity in Ten Cities," "Ride It Like You Stole It," and "The God Switch," comprising wholly unpredictable throngs of conflicting riffs, percussive ejaculations, and howling roars -- generally break off into patches of linear strumming set to standard rhythms, which most listeners should be able to digest, given a few spins. (A few exceptionally musical guitar solos sprinkled throughout should also help the band's cause -- see "Trainwreck on the John Galt Line" and the title cut.) Of course, the million-dollar question for Embrace the End in these attention-strapped times is whether there'll be enough of those listeners out there. It takes a certain amount of discipline and a persistent glare to actually glimpse those phantom Ley Lines amid this album's daunting framework, but the effort is well worth it. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7)

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