Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Kennedy Veil - Trinity Of Falsehood


Metal as seen by outsiders who don’t listen to the genre is a garbled mess of instruments being played a beyond comprehensible speed mashed together into what sounds and feels like a literal wall of noise. Not the wall of sound idea made popular by Phil Spector in the 60’s, but more of a wall of sound that’s crumbling down and burying you alive. Now as a metal head we generally scoff this stuff off and move on because we’re more trained to hear the subtleties and the talent packed into these walls of noise. There’s almost a challenge to it and it makes repeat listens that much more important and enjoyable.


Technical death metal outfit The Kennedy Veil presents such a challenge. From the very get go The Trinity Of Falsehood is ablaze with speed and technicality that by the end you might feel out of breath. It’s on a similar level to Fleshgod Apocalypse (although I’m not sure anyone really quite touches Fleshgod Apocalypse in this manner) and Hour Of Penance. It’s hard not to simply awe at the sheer amount of speed at which these guys play constantly. Then you sit back and realize that even though they are playing at unyielding speed these guys aren’t just piling on mountains of wankery and nonsense. This album is packed to the brim, but it feels incredibly complete and flows very well.

The Kennedy Veil’s motto is ‘No throwbacks, no breakdowns, no wanking, no trends. Modern American Brutal Death Metal!’ and to that end they are definitely sticking to their guns. Trinity Of Falsehood is through and through death metal, with no drivel. Their sound is very clean and crisp, which can be either good or bad depending on how you look at it. On the one hand they’re production sounds very similar to many other bands out there, and doesn’t feel like it’s really their own, but on the other hand that’s true for most bands and this clean production allows for every single instrument to be heard and the mix is very well done. There also is basically zero emphasis on atmosphere with this album, which being that the sound is already incredibly packed, it likely would have been obnoxious to throw in some ambience and it honestly probably wouldn’t have been fitting to their sound.

The Kennedy Veil easily have the makings to be at the forefront of technical death metal. It’s a burgeoning subgenre with tons to offer. The focus on a clean sound and strong writing will definitely help separate these guys from bands that seem to be solely about speed and not about writing ability. There’s plenty to love here and The Kennedy Veil have a very bright future ahead of themselves.

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