Artist: Your Ventriloquist
Album: Cardinal EP
Label: Independent
Release Date: May 4, 2012
Forming in early 2011 and working on finalizing lineups (one of the original members lived in Russia), and then focusing on writing and recording their debut, Cardinal, Your Ventriloquist have been very busy men. A little over a year after Jordan Bopp (original vocalist for Of Wolves & Angels) started the band, they've blasted onto the scene with a raw, powerful, and downright awesome debut EP.
Musically, you can clearly tell who the band's influences are by the style of metalcore the band is playing. I'm in no shape way or form saying this is a bad thing, because even though you can tell who the influences are you also hear the originality and creativity of the band itself. For being a debut release of such a young band, I was honestly hesitant about what the EP would sound like. I was very surprised to hear it sound so clean, tight, and technical. The guitar work is right up there with and of the metalcore bands you'd hear on Rise Records, and also the band includes the synthesizer on some of their songs, which is becoming more and more popular in the metalcore genre right now, but even with this the band doesn't sound like copycats, because the use the synthesizers in ways that you haven't heard before. One of my favorite parts musically, and maybe the surprise of the entire EP for me is the opening to "Second to None", the song starts off with this little piano piece and then the boys just come right for you and grab you by the balls and don't let go.
Lyrically, Jordan has shown how much he has grown as a lyricist and a person. All seven songs on the EP are a continuing concept about the cardinal sins (hence the album's name) and tells both sides of the story in one song. The conflict within the song and seamless and makes you think about some the "cardinal sins" you've committed yourself. One of my favorite lyrics comes from "Second to None", "I've let myself decay/I took everything and threw it away/It's blood for blood/You took my life and made sure I paid." The pain in the words and how they flow with the music makes you feel the pain for the person in the song. Probably my favorite lyric is in the EP's best song "Empathy" in which it says "Look what you've become/Another fucking disaster/(So, you think your life's worth saving?)" I don't know what it is about this lyric, and actually the entire song but I dig it big time, and it gets my adrenalin pumping to the point where I want to destroy somebody in the pit!
Overall: Your Ventriloquist shows a lot of promise on their debut, Cardinal and show that even though they haven't been around as long as some of the more notably Indiana-based bands they are definitely here to stay! One thing I didn't mention earlier is the guest vocals. "Feint" features Ryan Lloyd from Dismiss the Serpent, and "Empathy" features Brad Kilburn from Amarna Reign. Bot vocalist bring a different dynamic to the song, and a different style than Jordan's but both times they add to the song in a great way. I'm usually not a big fan of guest vocalist in metal songs, but I think both times Your Ventriloquist really pull it off. Don't sleep on this band, before you know it they'll be right up the in the upper echelon of Indiana bands and people will be asking them to appear on their songs.
Rating: 4/5
Tracklisting:
1. Cardinal
2. Feint (featuring Ryan Lloyd of Dismiss the Serpent)
3.Second to None
4. Leviathan
5. Empathy (featuring Brad Kilburn of Amarna Reign)
6. Machinces
7. Nameless
Recommended Tracks: Feint, Second to None, and Empathy.
(Buy Here)
