The Hollow Earth Theory- Rise Of Agartha
You are either going to love or hate The Hollow Earth Theory, as simple as that. I think there is a divide between metallers on mixing melodic vocals with the growls. THET mix dark with light seamlessly, after the short intro your introduce to some pummelling riffage, along the lines to Unearth, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall(I should just say At The Gates really) that soon evolve into Ateryu, Killswitch Melodic-ness.
The Vocals seem to have a very Atreyu catchy emo kind of vibe to them. Rise of Agatha continues like this all throughout, mixing heavy riffs, melodic catchy sing-along and pit inducing breakdowns. There is some really overused lyrics in here, like “It’ll be alright” for example, it just gives the whole record an immature vibe to it.
Track Five is of particular interest to me, it kicks off like a Bleeding through song, great big roar and ripping riffs and then that riff ends up similar to Immortal’s “Sons of northern darkness”. THET are obviously a talented band and I would be interested in hearing them live, supporting someone else, but they lack any originality.
Produced by Fredrick Nordstrom whom has produced for such bands as Arch, enemy, In Flames, Soilwork and Opeth, you can tell they got the right man for the job as Rise of Agartha is polished to perfection. Closer Track Rise of Agartha PT.2 is men tot be their magnum opus, but fails miserably. It does have some nice ideas but for over seven minutes long and nearly no repetition they overcomplicated it and you end up losing any interest you may have had. For some reason the manage stick in five second off jazz half way through the song and finish it off with some piano. Overall Rise of Agartha was an interesting listen that lack originality, maybe next time round THET can find their sound.