The Makai - The End of All You Know
Chico, California's The Makai is an odd proposition indeed. Young, aspiring, and with plenty to prove, this band sounds frighteningly advanced for an act having begun with shows and demos as "early" as 2004. The sounds on this, their Seventh Rule Records debut, The End of All You Know, are both familiar and unique, clichι and yet original. In fact, the entire thing is a blatant paradox. Describing it is no easy task, and heavy allegory might be necessary. With this in mind, take a deep breath and enjoy the plunge.
The famous Swiss philosopher Carl Jung once proposed that humanity was bound together regardless of race or time by something known as a "collective unconsciousness." This concept was based around Jung's idea of Archetypes---roughly that every culture has its own unique take on matters like death, heaven, hell, etc., while still maintaining a greater root of basic similarity. A good example would be different world-flood myths---one culture has Noah and his Ark, another Gilgamesh riding on the logs of a sacred forest. Both are essentially about floods, but differ in how things go from there.
The Makai are exactly like this. The End of All You Know sounds like everything you've heard and yet nothing at all; explaining this maddening indescribability is no easy task. Obvious tributes to the crunchy death metal of Amon Amarth, the melodicism of At the Gates, the metalcore accessibility of the Black Dahlia Murder, and the bloody groove of Lair of the Minotaur all inhabit this disc, yet the end result is still something utterly unique. To make things even more mind-boggling, every song on the album represents a piece of human mythology, ranging from the Inuit creation myths to the saga of King Arthur penned centuries later. As diverse and seemingly unrelated as these tales are, there emerges a sort of shared experience---that of violence, doom, destruction, and change. These legendary narratives again lead to Lair of the Minotaur, yet at the same time recall acts as varied as Bal-Sagoth and Three Inches of Blood. To wit, The End of All You Know is one of the most bewildering and schizophrenic things I've heard in quite some time.
I'm still deciding whether or not I even like the damned thing. I've been spinning this for weeks now and the positives are thus---cool lyrical concept, complexity that grows on one with repeated spins, strong production, and (eventually) memorable hooks. The negatives are less but still vital; namely, the eerie moments where the music sounds exactly like someone or something else, the vocals (which are a bit too spastic hardcore influenced for my picky tastes) and so on. My biggest gripe is the fact that the bands this reminds me the most of (Lair of the Minotaur and Black Dahlia Murder) aren't big favorites of mine to begin with, and as such, I have difficulty truly enjoying the music at times.
"Gotterdamerung" for example leans a bit heavy on the hardcore/metalcore influences. Traits like barked vocals, winding leads, and swelling open chords give this a decidedly 'core feel, the likes of which I am still not wholly used to. The frantic yet upbeat riffs are catchy, and harkens to Dystopia perhaps. Overall, there is something that keeps me from liking this cut and I was initially worried that this CD would be my first real disappointment from Seventh Rule.
Thankfully, this does not happen. "The Hound of Hades" sounds like a middle-period Amon Amarth anthem with its swinging riffs and grizzly-growls. The stabbing melodies are sharp and surgical in their precise assaults; this one burrows deep into your brainstem and does not let go easily. "Beast Born from Lies" is equally memorable, its melodic tremolo-leads recalling the catchy rumble of something like Black Dahlia Murder. The song basically shifts in-and-out of varied levels of broadsword-like grooves, ranging from huge and fast to huge and slow. "The 10th Labor of Hercules" is a standout of the disc, the song's sludge/thrash fusion sounding like Lair of the Minotaur, and the Greek Mythological aspects adding further similarities. This one, much like the title subject himself, comes barreling out the gates with up-tempo, clubbing theatrics, and never really stops. Future crowd favorite "Battle Hymn" slowly swells into a thundering roar of titanic sound. Injected with tasteful catchiness amidst the furious beatdown, the song at times recalls Leviathan-era Mastodon with its brawny but rocking leads.
The superior "Sedna's Tale" is arguably the best song on the disc, and well-deserving of its own feature paragraph. "Sedna" marks the one pivotal moment where I realized the Makai are just getting started and will soon be on to bigger things. A vicious tremolo-lead blazes past as the song soon turns into a melodic death/thrash monster with plenty of sharp teeth and bones to pick. As the song slowly burns down into a glowing cinder of its former self, the end result is a beautiful aurora of sound. Hypnotic, ethereal melodies snake through a bleak darkness, as the drums pulse to an alien, celestial beat. Ending things with a bang, "Sedna" at last erupts into a volcanic catharsis, only to end suddenly and leaving its stunned listeners breathless.
Next up is "Lady of the Lake," which conjures a surreal, buzzing atmosphere both powerful and dense. The song slowly expands into an ever-increasing blast radius of hate, and makes for a pretty sound study of loud dynamics. The epic opening notes of "Fire Breathing Damsel Destroyer" are soon violently eaten by an eviscerating tornado of fury. In stark contrast to this stands "Spilling the Blood," which starts off with a static-drenched opening before busting out a booming chord progression ala Amon Amarth's more chugging material. Grandiose and mammoth, this is the kind of brutal groove that the Makai makes their own. "The Plague of Time" ends things with a bang, shifting from thrashing warfare to punishing groove to post-apocalyptic feedback and death.
The End of All You Know truly earns its name; these guys will seemingly bring the resurgence of melody in death metal and the growing sludge genre back to the original thrash boom of the underground, effectively uniting some twenty years of metal progress. There is no doubt in my mind that they will be big---the only question is if a band so obviously inspired by the works of previous artists deserves so much so fast. Things surely seem to be happening in that direction for the Makai and my guess is that we will be hearing plenty of them in the years to come. Chances are this will remind everyone of something, so there is no real reason for me to recommend avoidance of the album. Pick this up and get on the bandwagon before everyone else.
The Makai's The End of All You Know
1. Gotterdamerung
2. The Hound of Hades
3. Beast Born From Lies
4. The 10th Labor of Hercules
5. Battle Hymn
6. Sedna's Tale
7. Lady of the Lake
8. Fire Breathing Damsel Destroyer
9. Spilling the Blood
10. The Plague of Time
Rating:
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