Review: Flat Earth Society – Friends are temporary, Ego is forever

On February the 21st a debut was released and it is not just a debut, but a very strong one at that. I am talking about the debut of the progressive metalcore band Flat Earth Society, consisting of vocalist Daniel Correa, guitarist Carlos Gonzalez-Aller, drummer Alex Castro and bass player Jesús Espinosa. This debut is titled Friends are temporary, Ego is forever and is released via Art Gates Records.

After a very short intro Flat Earth Society immediately bursts in with Pray, of which they also released a video clip recently, in a very powerful and energetic way. Power and energy are two terms that are very fitting for describing this Friends are temporary, Ego is forever, as well as variation.

That variation is in different things on this album. We’ll hear this for example in the many complex, proggy rhythms, as well as the changes between those, within song structures in general, but also more detailed in the guitar- and drum-parts. That variation also comes from the combination of different vibes: at times this debut pounds heavily, such as in Danko, Disarray and The Gravity Paradox, while tracks such as CC Chain and Disarray also include atmospheric vibes. In addition to that Flat Earth Society is also grooving very nicely on this album, such as in Danko and Legfist, while Disarray contains a quite chaotic, pounding part around its 3-minute mark, and closing track Tortuga includes a bit of a Caribbean-sounding rhythm towards its end. This, those rhythms as well as those vibes, of course strengthened by the way Flat Earth Society combines all this, is where that aforementioned power and energy mainly comes from. At some moments that energy even gets an extra boost, such as during the intros of Legfist, CC Chain and The Gravity Paradox.

When listening to the different aspects of Flat Earth Society’s music especially the vocals are also showing a lot of variation. We’ll hear growls, such as in Pray and Danko, screams, such as in Disarray and The Gravity Paradox, a “blegh!” is regularly thrown in, such as in Pray and Legfist, a few tracks include a part with spoken words, such as Ligma and Disarray, and we’ll hear clean vocals, such as in Ligma and Legfist. Those clean vocals may sound quite catchy, but definitely not in a way that it’s very annoying. These different vocal styles are nicely interchanged with each other and are at some moments also nicely combined, such as in Legfist and CC Chain.

Every band member of Flat Earth Society clearly contributed to Friends are temporary, Ego is forever, not one of them is only there to only do basic stuff or because someone has to play that instrument. I already mentioned the vocals, the guitars and the drums, while those drums are also having a very powerful sound, such as in Danko, in which they are delivered in a somewhat choppy rhythm, in an up-building way as well as in more pummeling rhythm. These drums are also standing out alongside the bass riff a bit before CC Chain‘s 3-minute mark and around 3:40 into Disarray. The bass also stands out regularly. We’ll not only hear the just mentioned bass riff in CC Chain, but such a riff can also be heard in Ligma and Danko. That bass is also to be heard in a more humming way, such as in Disarray and The Gravity Paradox.

It may be clear that this is quite a strong album, especially for a debut. Production-wise closing track Tortuga sounds a bit more flat at some moments, in which the vocals and the drums sound like they are a little bit further away, making those sounds a little less powerful. However, this isn’t so annoying that it makes Friends are temporary, Ego is forever any less nice.

So, this is an album that’s worth checking for sure: Friends are temporary, Ego is forever by Flat Earth Society!

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