I'm actually looking forward to this. Sounds heavier than their previous stuff and so far haven't heard any real "singing," which is not something I felt worked for them.

(9/9/9: 9) Mathcore. Holy mother...Mary. This is easily the band's best output. Even if you hated the other albums, this is some HEAVY mathcore that avoids most of the mainstream tropes. Over the 45 minutes there is maybe a total of 3 minutes of clean singing. The rest is insane shouting, wild guitar fuckery, and crazy technical drumming. Far surpassed expectations. Full review HERE.

Wow, 9s across the board. I expect this album will probably end up changing the way I think about the universe.

Iwabo sold out guys, apparently the metal crowd just can't handle non-metal in their metal.

Written by Ganondox on 12.06.2015 at 23:37

Iwabo sold out guys, apparently the non-metal crowd just can't handle metal in their non-metal.

More how I interpreted this surprise of an album.

Written by [user id=101272] on 18.06.2015 at 21:55

Written by Ganondox on 12.06.2015 at 23:37

Iwabo sold out guys, apparently the non-metal crowd just can't handle metal in their non-metal.

More how I interpreted this surprise of an album.

So you're saying this album is less metal than their previous albums, and that's why people in the metal community are gobbling it up, because they're the non-metal crowd? But seriously, it's not like they haven't done mathcore before, this just seems more generic than their previous stuff. While brutal, it actually seems rather tame in terms of how chaotic they can be. The reception seems to mainly just from people who aren't even IWABO fans who just like that this song doesn't have any pop in it and are surprised because they don't actually know IWABO well.

Well, the full album is out now, so maybe there is something else in there that's something.

Wow, interesting that metalstormers in general don't like this band. Clean vocals are a strong point for me (for some reason they remind me of old-school Lacuna Coil?) rather than a weak one as some said.
Learned about this band with this album and it's great, will check the previous stuff.

Written by Unhealer on 21.06.2015 at 16:54

Wow, interesting that metalstormers in general don't like this band. Clean vocals are a strong point for me (for some reason they remind me of old-school Lacuna Coil?) rather than a weak one as some said.
Learned about this band with this album and it's great, will check the previous stuff.

Your first line about the vocals clearly shows that you started with this album. Seriosuly, go check on the previous vocalist. Those are the weak ones. I'll wait right here.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 03.07.2015 at 23:09


Your first line about the vocals clearly shows that you started with this album. Seriosuly, go check on the previous vocalist. Those are the weak ones. I'll wait right here.

I'll confess that I commented that before learning of the change of vocalists between albums, yet the comments against the clean vocals are the strongest on 2013's album thread where LaPlante had just joined so that still applies.

I've never listened to this band before so I have no background on what they're "supposed to" sound like. I really dig this album. All elements seem so well balanced, and prevent it falling into the pit of samey-ness from song to song. The clean vocals are a huge success here for me, as they're used in places that WORK with the compositions and don't just sound thrown in anywhere. Reminds me of the excellent use of clean vocals by Enmity.

Very fun I'd give it closer to a 7.5 or so, but rounded up instead of down.

The surprise is real! I remember hearing a song from these guys a few years ago and thinking it was utter crap. This is actually listenable, let alone interesting. There's a bit too much of that ultra-fast dissonant mathcore wankery in parts, but it's easy enough to overlook.

Edit: I also agree with everyone who has praised the clean vocals here.

Easily their most 'mature' sounding record. It's a shame that the band is probably broken up, because this record really felt like a giant leap forward for them.