OUTCAST - Awaken The Reason CD Review

ARTIST: Outcast
TITLE: Awaken The Reason
YEAR: 2012
LABEL: Listenable Records
REVIEWED BY: Caroline Restiaux

I started off the day thinking about which cd I should review and came across the Parisian band Outcast's latest release 'Awaken The Reason'. Judging the book by it's cover led me to believe that I was in for a bit of destruction and yet some tranquility along the way. Oddly enough that is exactly what I got. Being new to the band enabled me to be a bit more open minded and unable to draw any comparisons to their previous material. A fresh opinion on their music one could say.

The first song comes in like a lion without any hesitation and pounces all over you. From the start you are reminded a bit of the sounds that you might find on an Obscura or even Gojira album. The technicality in the solos and heavy riffage coming from the extreme thrash / death style guitar works is impressive enough to keep you wondering what is going to come next. This is a pattern that the band has going on throughout the album until it hits the track 'Awaken the Reason - Part IV: When Dawn Brings Clarity'. I stepped away from the music for a minute and came back to a classical piece nearing the half-way mark on the cd. I am a music enthusiast just as much as the next however it threw me for a loop when it showed up in that position of the song list. I would have preferred it to be somewhere near the end to enable me to come back down from the heavy hitting tunage however "the mid day relaxation" definitely put that little shock to my system when things sped back up. I don't get why bands do that but to each their own I guess. From this point the album takes a bit of a more progressive approach without losing the intensity that started it all off.

I really enjoyed the album as a whole minus the gripping I did about the more classical piece's positioning. 'Isolation' and 'Unspoken' would probably have to be my fave picks for this release. There's a couple of songs that seem like they were a bit rushed and others that could use a bit more structure to them. I would have also liked to have heard a bit more of a bass section in the songs but it's not uncommon to have this happen in Metal so it's really not too much of an issue. It's a great album but I think for some it might just be a slow burner. I would suggest going in to it with an open mind and you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

TRACKLISTING:

01. Elements
02. Abysmal
03. A Solace from the Shade
04. Awaken the Reason - Part IV : When Dawn Brings Clarity
05. Spin Angular Momenta
06. Unspoken
07. Isolation
08. Fallen Years
09. What Would be my Final Commitment ?
10. Man's Last Failure
11. Awaken the Reason - Part XI : Reprise