Society's Plague - Call To The Void (Eclipse Records)

Society’s Plague is releasing their new album, Call To The Void through Eclipse Records on April 27 2018. Though Call To The Void is brutally heavy, it contains some magnificent melodies. I can see the album being a winner for fans of bands such as Soilwork, early Sylosis and Rise To Fall.

Hailing from Lexington, Kentucky the band have been around since 2007. The band utilises a blend of melodic death metal elements, with some amazing harmonies from their dual guitar attack and a hint of keys and finally even some orchestral arrangement.

The band self-released their first EP, The Mercy Untold, back in 2008. Following up with their debut full album, 2010’s The Human, The Canvas, the band saw their fan base grow appreciably. They have supported such metal alumni as In Flames, Between the Buried and Me, Killswitch Engage and Disturbed, to name a few. The band then took a hiatus from 2013 to 2015.

Returning to a sold out hometown gig in 2016, the band went back into Subterranean Studios in Lexington, Kentucky to record another self-produced special in Call To The Void. The album was mastered by Alan Douches (Mastodon, God Forbid and Converge) and has a running time of about thirty eight minutes. It is ten tracks of fast and furious riffage and pounding beats that keep coming. Put alongside some great melodies, this is an album that engages my interest all the way through.

Ashes For Air assaults the senses from the first drum beat of the album. The riffs, provided by Roger Clem and Joe Royer are fast and feature an underlying melodic tone. Vocalist Matt Newton provides both visceral screaming and more melodic, cleaner vocals for choruses. That is followed by the slightly slower paced, Whispers. Distant Waves really amps up the Soilwork comparisons as it features guest vocals from Bjorn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork) on vocals.

The Fall continues the assault before the first single, Broken By Design really showcases the band’s talents. This is a great track that has some really nice hooks alongside a very catchy chorus and I can’t help but sway along. Fast and furious is not the only string to the band’s bow, the hauntingly brilliant Paramnesia reminds me of the recently reviewed Chasing Ghosts with the structure of the song and vocals throughout.

The album rounds out with Fear Is Failure, Abomination (featuring Michael Smith), a short instrumental called Dusk and finally finishing off with the epic, almost Amon Amarth, sounding (latest release) Rise Of The Eidolon.