Quantcast
Music
cover art

Walls of Jericho

Redemption

(Trustkill; US: 29 Apr 2008; UK: Available as import)

After having shown the potential for transcending the repetitive, oversaturated sounds of American metalcore on their 2006 album With Devils Amongst Us All, Walls of Jericho have taken the next step towards shedding the tag for good on this interesting, five-track EP. Produced by Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour notoriety (who in turn performs on three songs), Redemption follows the lead of Stone Sour, opting for a sullen, acoustic-based approach, and while it’s no more innovative than boring, one-chord metalcore breakdowns, the musical shift suits vocalist Candace Kucsulain very well. Previously known as one of the better female screamers in extreme music, she shows some excellent range on the EP, especially on the soul-baring “My Last Stand” and the predictable yet well-executed power ballad “No Saving Me”. For good measure, a decent cover of the Animals’ classic 1964 interpretation of “House of the Rising Sun” is tossed in, capping off a rather brave release by a band that’s ready to move on to a broader sound, and hopefully a wider audience.

Rating:

Adrien Begrand has been writing for PopMatters since 2002, and has been writing his monthly metal column Blood & Thunder since 2005. His writing has also appeared in Metal Edge, Sick Sounds, Metallian, graphic novelist Joel Orff's Strum and Drang: Great Moments in Rock 'n' Roll, Knoxville Voice, The Kerouac Quarterly, JackMagazine.com, StylusMagazine.com, and StaticMultimedia.com. A contributing writer for Decibel, Terrorizer, and Dominion magazines and senior writer for Hellbound, he resides, blogs, and does the Twitter thing in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.


Tagged as: walls of jericho
Media
Redemption Interview
Related Articles
25 Sep 2008
Just when you think you're out of the hardcore, it pulls you back in.
26 Feb 2007
The Detroit band's fiery third album breaks down some walls, and not just the metaphorical ones, either.
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Hip Hop Es Mi Cultura (Columns) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Van Halen: A Different Kind of Truth (Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Eyvind Kang: The Narrow Garden (Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
The Soft Hills: The Bird Is Coming Down to Earth (Capsule Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Matthias Sturm: Blood and Thunder (Capsule Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Jack DeJohnette: Sound Travels (Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Sam Mickens: Slay & Slake (Capsule Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Sibiri Samake: Dambe Foli (Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Big Fresh: Moneychasers (Capsule Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
Alyssa Graham: Lock, Stock & Soul (Reviews) [Mon, 1:00 am]
A Painting Come to Life: 'The Mill & the Cross' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
  1. 'Nebraska': Bruce Springsteen's 'Heart of Darkness' (Columns)
  2. The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
  3. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 1: From 13Ghosts to Friendly Fires (Features)
  4. Not-So-Central Casting: Kevin Smith and the Birth of the Reality Podcast (Features)
  5. The 10 Greatest Movie Spies Ever (Short Ends and Leader)
  6. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 2: From the Go! Team to the Phoenix Foundation (Features)
  7. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 3: From Real Estate to Youth Lagoon (Features)
  8. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Reviews)
  9. The Top 15 Madonna Singles of All Time (Sound Affects)
  10. Get Off of My Cloud!: 'Collecting' Music in the Digital Age (Features)
  11. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Reviews)
  12. Google and the Production of Curiosity (Marginal Utility)
  13. Carole E. Barrowman’s Authorial Journey to Hollow Earth (Features)
  14. “Don’t Let Me Fall”: Hip-Hop in the Age of Austerity (Features)
  15. Tower Songs: Townes Van Zandt (Columns)
  16. Black Bananas: Rad Times Xpress IV (Reviews)
  17. Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom (Reviews)
  18. The Gay Ole Countryside (Columns)
  19. Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Reviews)
  20. Counterbalance No. 67: John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' (Sound Affects)
  21. Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro: A Rock Star’s Midlife Crisis or Valid Literature? (Features)
  22. A Look to the Past, An Insight Into the Present: The Use of Gender in 'Mad Men' (Features)
  23. The 10 Best John Coltrane Solos (Sound Affects)
  24. A Tale of How Great Journalism Became Revisionist History: Grambling State U Football (Columns)
  25. Chairlift: Something (Reviews)
  26. Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (Reviews)
  27. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - "Heart Attack" (Cosmic Kids Remix) (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media)
  28. Mitt Romney Can Reside at Today's Proverbial 'Downton Abbey'... Newt Gingrich Cannot (Features)
  29. The Barbaric (and Poetic) Yawp of Shelby Lynne (Notes from the Road)
  30. After Cease to Exist: The Far-from-Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (Features)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.