Lista de los grupos Deathcore Prepared Like A Bride A Dangerous Journey

The early signs of A Dangerous Journey seem really good (the moment of the utterance of the first word). Immediately, I noticed a change in their general aesthetic. For those who haven’t heard their previous EP, Within World's Apart, it’s definitely a primitive version of Prepared Like a Bride in the sense that they were still young. You could hear the juvenility in their music, now it’s a little harder to make out (although they may still have a little more growing to do). It’s evident that Prepared Like a Bride have done some serious growing up in the recess between Within World's Apart and A Dangerous Journey (2010 – 2012). You can hear it in all aspects of their music from the; depth and maturity of their sound, to their song writing skills. This is what I think the best part of following a band from their beginning, you get to see how they grow and mature as a group and considering how much Prepared Like a Bride have grown since their last release, this EP has made my week.

For those who don’t know, Prepared Like a Bride is almost a definition of what progressive deathcore is. They have the uplifting atmosphere and melody typically associated with progressive- music, as well as the brutality and bone crushing characteristics of regular deathcore. Unlike other bands such as The Contortionist who have an unbalance between deathcore band progressive hardcore, the blend of proggy and deathy style hardcore seems almost perfect (This bowl is too hot, this bowl is too cold… but A Dangerous Journey is juuuust rrrright). The beauty of the progressive music which is contained in A Dangerous Journey is simply awe-inspiring, which is one of their main focal points from Within World's Apart, and it’s Prepared Like a Bride’s distinguishing trait which I love the most. I like it because they don’t try and overdo it, I mean the progressiveness isn’t what their music based on (unlike The Contortionist (old) and The Yellow Sign). The music is well structured and they use a variety of atmospheric techniques and instruments to emit a “feel-good” experience to their music. Balancing; synthetics, the use of pianos (well, the piano setting on a keyboard) and soft guitar distortion the atmosphere is smooth as nice piece of chocolate. Like I mentioned before, they have a dark side, a deathcore side.

If it wasn’t for the deathcore in A Dangerous Journey, Prepared Like a Bride would be as bland as a raw potato. This “yin and yang” between deathcore and progressiveness is what Prepared Like a Bride is all about, one doesn’t trump the other, nor, are they equally as marginalized. Now, I’ve already gone though the progressive side of their music, but I haven’t explained the deathcore side of things. This is the what I think is the major change in Prepared Like a Bride’s sound since Within Worlds Apart. The deathcore has been turned down a lot, in fact I’m not sure if I can confidently call it deathcore anymore, or “real” deathcore. The thing that confuses me when I listen to A Dangerous Journey is that the progressive side of their music is progressive deathcore, and the part which is suppose to be deathcore just isn’t so deathcorey anymore. It seems like technical hardcore or maybe even mathcore. They’ve ditched deathcore screams and growls and have replaced them with hardcore mids and lows. Even the breakdowns have gone towards a hardcore direction and steered away from a deathcore (however, there might be one or two in there which are more deathcore than hardcore).

The general artistic nature of band has changed dramatically, simply because of this sea change from deathcore to (or towards) hardcore. A Dangerous Journey seems to be at the crossroads between the deathcore/hardcore stalemate where the progressiveness disallows us to get a definitive answer of what the real answer to this question is. Oh well, who the hell cares, the –core in A Dangerous Journey is great, no matter which specific genre it is. This might disappoint a few fans because Within World’s Apart contained deathcore which was lean and much more hardcore.

I may have gave this away previously in my review when I referred to technical hardcore or mathcore but the A Dangerous Journey is an incredibly technical piece of –core. I mean, considering the roots of the music come from the two most untechnical genres in hardcore: progressive hardcore/deathcore and modern trendy hardcore. However the technicality hasn’t reached to the point where I’d start calling Prepared Like a Bride “technical hardcore” or “mathcore” and besides, I don’t think it’s even the effect the band is after. But, I guess the technicality and musicianship of the artists should be given come merit for their efforts.

The last point I’d like to make about A Dangerous Journey is the emotional connection I feel when I listen to such a record. There seems to be a lack of bands out there today that I have any kind of connection with and I find myself sitting there thinking “cool album bro, needs more breakdowns”. But the atmosphere presented in A Dangerous Journey is just so uplifting and euphoric, a feature that I like the most about Prepared Like a Bride and it’s the quality that they’ve brought forth from Within Worlds Apart. Prepared Like a Bride seem to really know how to make deep music, pretty much all their songs have some kind of meaning whether it be in the lyrics or the way the music develops in each track. The combination of the tremolo picking and the sounds of something resonating (I can’t exactly pick up what instrument it is, but I’m going to assume it’s a guitar) emits a radiant atmosphere, and to top it all off, lyrically, the band possesses some didactic characteristics increasing the album’s worth. They are so incredibly efficient in each and every track, they waste little space and give is lots of bang for our buck.

However, there is one place that I feel A Dangerous Journey falls, and not what’s on the EP, but what’s not on the EP. On their last release one of their main focal points was their over exaggerated bass dropping breakdowns. They got rid of them! Why?! Why why why why would they do that? My component of Within Worlds Apart is not present in A Dangerous Journey, it’s like making a Transformers movie without Optimus Prime, it just wouldn’t be the same. Call me an asshole, but Prepared Like a Bride have really lost a few brownie points from me, simply because of this flaw. Ahh well, at least they replaced them with some half decent (still not as though) breakdowns.

Overall, A Dangerous Journey is a solid hardcore EP. Prepared Like a Bride have shown their creative side in the way they’ve experimented with the hardcore sound in their music and how they have progressed from their last album Within World’s Apart. Almost every aspect of their music has undergone some kind of change from; the integration of their progressive element, the breakdowns, the vocal style, song structure, maturity, complexity and technicality of the music and emotionally (aaand there’s probably even more that I haven’t yet picked up on). Prepared Like a Bride is one of those bands who spreads a real message and make music for a reason, not just because “I wanna B da Biggist Band Eva!”. The depth of their music is absolutely amazing from the superficial to beyond. However the lack of bass dropping breakdowns kinda took the flavour away from enjoying a nice slice of Prepared Like a Bride (which I was looking forward to, might I add). The Valley Of Shadow & Death is a pretty good track to listen to for people interested in A Dangerous Journey, it showcases most of what I’ve talked about in this review. I give Prepared Like a Pride’s A Dangerous Journey a 16/20.