Album Review: I Am Alpha And Omega - The Roar And The Whisper

There has been a lot of anticipation for this album, mainly due to the hype built from their first two EP’s, ‘Georgia May’ and ‘The War I Wage’. Fans will be pleased to hear that ‘The Roar And The Whisper’ sees the band at the top of their musical game, and working with producer Dave Swanson (ex-Life in Your Way, current-The Frozen Ocean) the production is crisp and the band have clearly been pushed musically. However it feels at times like the band is trying to do too much, spanning genres leaving you guessing what’s next at every corner. This, in their case isn’t necessarily a good thing and points at a lot of indecision in the studio as to what the band really want to be.

‘The Last Breath Of Self Expectancy’ opens the album in brutal fashion with screams of a single lyric over searing melodic metal. It’s not exactly what you expect from this four piece but ‘The Lost And The Captor’ is IAAAO to a tee. With powerful growls and a catchy clean chorus, and as usual there are bags of passion from there heavily Christian subject matter throughout. ‘My Greatest Need’ has a slightly more poppy feel musically, but with some chuggy riffs still delivers on the heavy side.

Title track ‘The Roar And The Whisper’ has the kind of pop tendencies A Day To Remember do so well, balancing even a bit of acoustic guitar which only makes the heavy bits sound even more brutal making it one of the strongest and heaviest track on the album. ‘Irreversible’ is more punk rock than post hardcore but still holds its own, but ‘Deceiver’ drills things back into action, fast, brutal and ripping the lungs out of lead singer Donny.

‘The Rescue’ is a melodic almost post metal instrumental track, a showcase of the bands musical progression before ‘The Bride’ crashes in, another of the heaviest tracks on the record. ‘Wolves’ slows the tempo down and is dynamic in its delivery, really standing out from the pack on this album. ‘Beaten, Betrayed, Denied’ is again very melodic and slowly builds into a track that frankly seems quite out of place, especially as ‘A Whistle Falls’ follows it with harsh metal riffs and pounding drums, leaning very much on the hardcore side of things.

Last track ‘Chasing’ is simply a mystery, with just clean vocals over an electronic beat, more pop ballad than anything else. Which sadly leaves you questioning this album, it spans so many genres and is packed full of different ideas, leaving some tracks on the album feeling out of place. However there are some great tracks which can’t be ignored, at points this album is bloody good but its let down by trying to do too much, nit picking at different genres and styles that make it often feel disjointed.

3.5/5

'The Roar And The Whisper' I Am Alpha and Omega is available now as a free download here.

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Connor O’Brien