Creative Melodic Hardcore: Of Glaciers

Melodic Hardcore is a very tired sub-genre these days, especially for some people who can’t even hold in their lunch at the name. In fact, it started getting old right around the time melodic hardcore bands started calling themselves “melodic hardcore”. But just like every other genre and sub-genre out there, there is simply a heinous imbalance between good music and bad. Creative examples of melodic hardcore are hard to find, but for those of you who still enjoy it when it’s polished and there’s real effort put in, whet your beak on Of Glaciers, most notably, their first full length album Heart Museum.

The five gentlemen that compile Of Glaciers hail from Chicago, and for their little genre niche, they have created a veritable opus in Heart Museum. Not only do they pay (well received) compliments to their genre's feeble heritage, but they aren't afraid to experiment. Most bands in this arena beat the dead horse with their overused breakdowns and three note guitar tweedling that stopped sounding original after For the Fallen Dreams put it in several of their songs. And I’m not kidding myself here, Of Glaciers does the flowery tweedling too, but at no point does it presume to be the highlight of the music. The lead guitars meander in the background stitching a strong weave for the drums and bass to trampoline from. Overlaid are plenty of catchy baritone riffs and foot-tapping, if not a little derivative, breakdown-esque backbone beats. The result is a very rich tapestry, gilded finally by an excellent vocal track from vocalist Cade Armstrong. His performance is to be commended, always on point, always adding that extra garumph that a badass line needs.

Now, melodic they definitely are, but the hardcore is not throughout. An eclectic mixture abounds, but never strays too far from the metalcore typography. Calling them melodic hardcore is almost like an insult. Heart Museum delivers so much more, most notably in their two-part “Enlightenment”. Sections of the track slow down and brood in a Misery Signals manner, and come close to being progressive. There is so much more to enjoy here than just a few melodic riffs and breakdowns on repeat.

Part of the reason for this album’s polished sound no doubt is due to their mixer and masterer, Periphery’s Adam “Nolly” Getgood. The album was recorded at 608 studios in Milwaukee, WI (Serianna, Serpents, The Boy Will Die).

You can pick up their debut full length, Heart Museum from Bandcamp for $10

http://ofglaciers.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OfGlaciersOfficial?fref=ts