Into the Moat

Most of Metal Blade’s roster is easily put to shame by Into the Moat’s label debut. Unfortunately, in wake of the Dillinger Escape Plan’s popularity and the copycat acts that followed, they could also easily be mistaken for a handful of bands. They weld heavy hitting beats and fancy finger work into a turbulent mosh machine; DEP’s influence being present in more ways than one. The most obvious similarities are the jazzy interludes that sporadically intercept high-speed noodling. They also invoke the unrestrained compositional premise that has made tech metal the new darling of heavy music. Riffs are scarcely repeated but structure is subtly present. The vocals stand out in their intensity and depth, sounding like a fierce combination of Coalesce and Burnt by the Sun. They barrel through heavy hardcore breakdowns and stealthily return to un-danceable strings of notes for a multifarious stab at perfecting the "-core” end of the tech spectrum. A step up from their previous Lovelost EP, Means by Which the End Is Justified promises that with a little more fine tuning this band will be leading the pack.