The Banner - Frailty

Here is a band that I had never listened to before about a month or two ago. I admit I had wrote them off for being on Ferret Records which I had long ago wrote off as a label more interested in the next big thing than promoting sincere, quality bands (although I always have and always will love Every Time I Die). I became interested in this band after seeing them being related to or friendly with a lot of other bands that I tend to enjoy.

To somewhat ease my guilt of supporting Ferret Records, The Banner is a Holy Terror artist. Holy Terror is a collective of awesome artists such as Living Hell, Integrity, Rot In Hell, Ringworm and a slew of other awesome artists.

That brings us to 'Frailty'. First off, this album is one of the heaviest releases of the year in my opinion. Every piece of music on this album just sounds absolutely crushing. The guitars are very down tuned (this is apparently a new change for them), the drums are powerful, and the mix is an audio onslaught that I can't just help but love. The band hasn't quite graduated from genre canon breakdowns, but they don't sound played out in this release, they are probably one of the few bands left in this genre that these don't sound boring and it just keeps this already heavy album even heavier.

Secondly, as one could imagine seeing the association to Holy Terror and that collective, this is an evil sounding album. The riffs just ooze a feeling of horror. The lyrics are unrelentingly dark, bouncing between just plain stupid, to some really awesome collections of words and ideas. To be straight, this is a metalcore album, but it is a breed of metalcore that I think many fans of hardcore can easily get into. It's metal tinged hardcore if anything, and it is a powerful album.

It all works together as a whole, there are no cringe worthy tracks or any reasons to skip around, save perhaps for the little too long noise intro to "The Wolf" after the excellent "Welcome Fuckers" opening track (a dischordant folk guitar track that sets the mood of the album). 'Frailty' is an epic that delves deep into the dark side that everyone has in themselves, and I find it hard not to get pumped up every time I listen to this album.

The Banner have crafted one of the heaviest, most solid albums of 2008 in 'Frailty' and I encourage anyone who may have an interest in this style of music to check them out.

The Banner on MySpace
Ferret Records
The Banner : Ferret Records Webstore
Amazon