Review by Joe Harvey
I originally opted to listen to this album only because the band bears the same name as a town located close to the one I grew up in. I had no prior knowledge before I listened to them for the first time that this band even existed. Well, I am glad I grew up where I did, because stumbling upon Seneca was one of the most unexpected musical surprises I have had as of recent. With a countless number of bands rising up in the genre lately, it is getting harder and harder to find ones that really stand out among the rest, and I believe Seneca does just that.
The opening track, “Optical”, is your run-of-the-mill intro song, starting soft and picking up mid-way through, leading the listener right into the second track, titled “Palehorse”, a song that figuratively put me on my ass. As I listened to this song, I knew that I had found something great, and I couldn’t wait to hear the rest of the CD. Let’s just say I was not disappointed. Upon first listen, I immediately thought that what I was hearing was far too brutal to include metalcore-like spots of clean singing, but was pleasantly surprised when I found out I was wrong. Three of the songs on the CD possess that metalcore element, which I found to be very welcome to my ears.
“Carousels” is a song that better displays the band’s technical capabilities. The drum work on this song is very impressive, as is all the unexpected turns the song takes. This is definitely one of my favorites on the album.
“Illusions” gives the listener what they would probably not expect at this point, which is a laid-back, peaceful song that displays Seneca’s ability to write more than just fast-paced, explosive material, and it is always refreshing to hear a band that doesn’t limit themselves to one specific sound.
“Birds”, “The 29th Day”, “Creator” and “Names and Faces” are all totally destructive tornadoes from start to finish. All four songs display some the heaviest material on the CD. “Creator” has a very angry tone within the music, especially in the vocals; it is impressive to hear such emotion in the vocalist’s shredding screams, it illustrates the notion that the singer (and the rest of the band) are putting their hearts and souls into the music.
The album closes on a lighter note with “Reflections”, which is probably good, because it gives the listener a nice calming opportunity to reflect on the musical hurricane they just weathered.
Seneca undoubtedly has the ability to be technical, unpredictable and extremely heavy all within the confines of a single release. The entire album is jam-packed with precision-placed blast beats, breakdowns and a relentless barrage of passionate vocals, with moments of ambience sprinkled in without fail, leaving the listener feeling anything but confined. I can’t wait to hear what they come out with next.