Released by: Nightmare Records
Release Date: February 15th, 2011
Genre: Modern Metal/Progressive
Links: http://www.clandestineband.com/
Links: http://www.myspace.com/clandestineband
Line Up:
June Park – vocals, programming
Dan Durakovich – guitars, programming
Sammy J Watson – drums
Mark Valencia – bass
Tracklist:
01. Fearless
02. Disappear in You
03. Silent Sin
04. Philistine
05. Pretend
06. Fracture
08. Dead to the World
09. Phantom Pain
10. The Invalid
I never put too much stock into these over hyped bands that seem to resurface every year here in the States, simply because my experienced has been that they are mostly overproduced and uninspired. Of course is not to say that the music is not good just not as performed to the level it could be. Regardless I’m a little cautious since there’s so much of that type of music floating around out there you really don’t know what you have until you give them a try.
Well the Angelino natives that form Clandestine have been pretty marketed around press releases early this year and I decided to check them out for myself and see what this fuzz was all about. If I may borrow a quote from the press release “the band has been redefining progressive rock/metal and making waves in the underground scene”. The band has been described as cross mixed of Evanescence, Dream Theater and Between The Buried & Me. Anytime you throw the comparison between DT and other bands, well my mind drifts into a highly technical state of musicianship so that there peaked my interest knowing full well that there aren’t many bands out there that can even share a stage with the Prog masters.
But as I listen carefully I can see the comparisons to DT, especially to their more straight forward stuff from the Train of Thoughts days, Clandestine use some monotone progressive elements as well as electronic to induce more mood into their songs. The main focus point of the band is the female fronted vocals of June Park who does have a resounding voice and very strong vocals. I have always said any lady that wants to play in a metal band and takes the vocal duties, truly has a pair because it takes some guts to go out and hang with the boys. Of course you quickly hear her voice and then you realize she’s pretty good at this.
The band’s first single comes off the song “Disappear In You” which they have released a video for, that particular track feels a bit more refined and polished just for the mainstream. On the other hand the song “Silent Sin” is pretty strong with Park vocals dominating the fold alongside a more metalcore driven riff. The more aggressive death growls in “Philistine” give way to a nice swiftly bass driven rhythm and some cool electronic synths. I really liked the slow moving buildup of “Phantom Pain” in fact I would of hoped the band had more of these style of songs on the album.
From what I gathered the band had released this record on it’s own independently back in 2009 and received some praise in cyberworld. It’s good for the band to finally get on a with a label and give the record more recognition. Even though June’s vocals are praiseworthy, there are some common misconceptions that still hold true to these type of bands. The sound is still too overly shadowed and unbalanced in spots, while I’m not quite sure if the band will adhere to fans of Evanescence or Lacuna Coil, which some proclaim similarities alike. Some of the fillers songs take some style points from the overall sound of the band. I did liked the progressive elements in the album construct, and the electronic stuff works well at times. I just think the band’s next release they need to refine their sound a bit and stick to a particular balanced formula for the whole record. Look forward to see where the band goes from here.
Written by Denys
Ratings Denys 6/10
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