Mastodawn

Germany’s Act of Creation has been around for over a decade yet it seems no one around these parts has ever heard of them. After looking into their discog and history, they’ve been down an interesting road in the last fourteen years—specifically regarding vocalists. The vocals were handled by male voices for the band’s first three releases, with the occasional guest vocalist(s). Twenty-twenty’s The Uncertain Light saw them shift to a female vocalist, Jess, who is by far their best vocalist to date. Unlike acts like Opera IX, who transitioned from the mighty vocals of their female counterpart to male vocalists that can never replicate their previous material with the respect it deserves. Thankfully, that was corrected, but it’s far too late. On the other hand, Act of Creation tossed Jess into the mix, skyrocketing The Uncertain Light as their strongest effort to date. Her harsher vocals match the band’s sound nicely, and the album is full of death-thrash/melodeath energy with clean vocals expanding the diversity. This lineup is back, dropping their newest release, Moments to Remain.

Perhaps the strangest thing about the band involves their 2010 debut and sophomore releases, Secret Memoirs of a Forced Fate and Endstation. Supposedly they had/have a mascot called Jordan Flagg, who acted as the “vocalist.” Even incorporating this Jordan Flagg fellow into the lyrics of songs like “Beyond the Archipelagos.” In this song, Flagg is no longer anything more than a number and is controlled by… the fuck if I know. It’s some weird-ass shit to credit a fictitious character as the vocalist when, in actuality, the vocals are done by the other band members. Anyway, the debut album is heavy as fook and highly enjoyable. Twenty-sixteen’s Thion saw the band with a new male vocalist that, while acceptable, didn’t click well with the band, and resulted in one of their weaker albums. After exploring these initial releases, which are surprisingly difficult to find, I’m even more confident in the band’s abilities with Jess on the mic. But, will Moments to Remain tickle my fancy in the ways that The Uncertain Light did?

Well, that depends on which version of the album you purchase. As far as I can tell, the vinyl release includes nine tracks, while CD and digital releases contain twelve. What’s even stranger is that these three, additional bonus tracks don’t all conclude the album. The bonus track “Awake” opens the fucking thing. This is truly bizarre given that it is a far-superior opening track than the vinyl version’s “Come with Me.” So, that alone warrants the purchase of the full album. “Awake” opens with a ticking clock before unloading machine-gun drums and guitars into your inner ear canal. Once the whispering vocals finish, growls and eerie rasps (with some similarities to Cradle of Filth) erupt, pushing the song through crushing tremolo work and a big build. The track also includes one of the better melodic choruses on the album and solidifies it as the proper opener for Moments to Remain.

While there is good material on the album’s front half (like the short, fiery “Egoist”), the back half of the album makes it. Specifically, the back-to-back-to-back “Lost Little Soul,” “Beyond Reality,” and “Agonizing Slumber.” The first opens with an upbeat introduction and gorgeous clean vocals. Then, we get rolling as the vocals alternate between cleans and rasps for a pained yet aggressive approach. After some melodic rises and falls, a melodeath chug surfaces as Jess’ cleans and rasps become even more pained—more than any other on the record. “Beyond Reality” is a badass track with a killer lick that uses impeccable pinched harmonics. But when the melodic leads take over, the song rises to its summit. Then, it becomes weird and sinister with interesting guitar work and soloing. This song is packed with constant riff changes and mood shifts but, unfortunately, the final riff does little to close this track out after its five minutes of creativity. The official closer, “Agonizing Slumber,” is another pleasing venture into melodeath, providing a solid chorus and a vicious attitude to counter the spooky vocal approach around the midway point. After the vocalist proclaims, “FUCK,” some stellar leads grab hold of the chug and drag it as far as it can into the stratosphere.

Moments to Remain continues to expand on the Jess era of the band quite nicely. Though not as consistent as The Uncertain Light, it still delivers creative guitar layers and heavy-as-fuck moments. The fact that “Awake” isn’t provided as the default opener upsets me, while the gorgeous acoustic bonus track, “Cry of a Peacecrow,” should absolutely be included in all versions of the album. That said, the pointless instrumental bonus closer should never be a thing. Other issues involve the album’s balance. The back end of the record is better than the front end and contains most of the clean/harsh vocal diversity that makes this era of the band so impactful. Minus the issues, Moments to Remain is another solid outing from the band and I’m happy to see them continue to expand on what they released four years ago.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Massacre Records
Websites: actofcreation.bandcamp.com 1 | actofcreation.de | facebook.com/actofcreation
Releases Worldwide: July 19th, 2024

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