Music by kids for kids
From the artwork, name of the band and girl led line-up I was expecting In This Moment to be another conveyor belt female fronted gothic rock band, so it was to my surprise when the speakers spewed out a slab of modern metal incorporating elements from such contemporaries as Atreyu, Killswitch Engage and My Chemical Romance. The kids reading this will probably wet their pants in excitement at the thought of a female fronted metal act, however, the rest of the metal listening community will just roll their eyes but check out the band out of curiosity and to see how hot the singer is.
Unfortunately In The Moment incorporate far too much of their contemporaries into their music because 'Beautiful Tragedy,' from start to finish, is a barrel full of recycled riffs and ideas that have been made famous by any of the above mentioned bands. To put it bluntly, this is a band that sound exactly like Atreyu with a female singer. I find it a sad moment to write the above because In This Moment are super talented musicians. The way the songs are structured, the style of riffing and changes in rhythm the band adopt aren't easy to pull off and I find it a pity they've sullied their gift by writing music that is neither original nor effective. Don't get me wrong, the songs are played with intense fury and pace but it's all huff and puff as if they're trying too hard to be heavy and rebellious.
Over the top of the run of the mill music vocalist Maria Brink screams like a cat with a drill up its bum hole. If you thought most banshee style screaming vocals are irritating then you've heard nothing until you hear Maria. It is difficult to listen to at times making you wince as her voice breaks in sheer vocal violence. 'Prayers' suffers from this problem as does 'Daddy's fallen angel,' in fact the whole damn thing has this awful screeching dominating the mix. When Maria actually sings she has little power to speak of, especially in the long drawn out notes, but makes up for it in sublime subtlety. The verse in 'The Legacy of Odio' and the verse in 'He Said Eternity' are particularly effective and I found myself praying for her to adopt a more controlled style of vocal.
The production is tighter than a puckered sphincter but the mix is too lightweight which prevents the heaviness of the music hitting home. 'Circles' is an illustration of this point as the band fosters a blast beat under a Maria Sqwark yet all that can be heard is Maria and the snare drum. I can never fathom out such production because the band try hard to be as heavy as the earth itself but the sound is that of a nice rock band. I think it's this conflict of styles that really grates with a lot of metal fans but appeals to kids, which, is essentially the audience in which 'Beautiful Tragedy' is aimed at.
A truly awful acoustic track pads out the album to just over forty minutes and then that's your lot. 'Beautiful Tragedy' is recycled, irritating and by the numbers, but it is also modern, aggressive and pretty lightweight. If you're under the age of 19 then you may just find the voice your distant soul has been trying to track down all through your melancholic teen years, for the rest of us it's just another nail in the coffin of modern metal. But is the singer hot? I hear you ask. Who cares, it's all about the music isn't it?