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A Perfect Murder's previous full-length, "Cease To Suffer," garnered for the band quite a bit of praise, but I never really understood why. The music, fueled by a three-guitar beating and thick, metallic hardcore sound, presented some unique ideas but primarily left me feeling pretty bored. After signing with Victory Records, the buzz surrounding A Perfect Murder has once again begun to climb and, while the label makes it seem that "Unbroken" is quite possibly the heaviest 36 minutes of recorded music you'll experience, I'm slightly more subdued and controlled in my praise.
"Unbroken" is more instantly satisfying in comparison to A Perfect Murder's older material due primarily to the crisp and chunky production quality. Whereas "Cease To Suffer" had a fuzziness encasing all of its content, "Unbroken" sounds strikingly massive. As such, turning "Unbroken" up louder and louder only makes it sound better and better. From what I've gathered, A Perfect Murder hasn't undergone any substantial musical changes; their recorded material just sounds about 200 percent better.
A Perfect Murder's sound is rooted in stripped down, unforgiving metallic hardcore, but their ability to hook more listeners probably stems from their tendency to throw in a lot of droning, Southern-inspired rock n' roll riffs and thrashy metal. It's worked on me, as I tend to view A Perfect Murder as a fairly distinguished band that doesn't ever fall victim to the multitude of trends plaguing metal/hardcore music. None of the riffs or time signatures are at all mind-bending, but that's everything A Perfect Murder isn't about. "Unbroken" consists of well-played, precise metallic hardcore (similar to that of Hatebreed) with a number of memorable riffs and classy guitar solos -- two things absent on many releases spawned from the same genre -- as well as tastefully incorporated breakdowns and deeply-shouted vocals.
The more I think about it and the more I listen to it, the more I respect this band and release. After all, it's free of trite moments, although it does tread plenty trampled ground. Still, with traditional metallic hardcore creating the music's foundation and some impressive guitar riffing expanding on the sound, this almost seems like something from what some might consider metallic hardcore's glory days. "Unbroken" is more than worth listening to. My jaw isn't sagging after each listen, but I really like what I hear. It's bitter, concise, crunchy and varied enough to keep a variety of listeners interested. This is one of my favorite new albums to play on the way to work and I'm definitely going to spin this the next time I need to vent some rage.
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