Phinehas – “Till The End” [Album Review]

Not wanting to do L.A. metalcore chaps Phinehas a disservice here, but it surprises me that bands are still churning out this type of textbook metalcore in 2015. Having been done to death by everyone from As I Lay Dying to Killswitch Engage to Unearth, it would be fair to expect nothing out of the ordinary from the L.A. outfit. So, on that score, it comes as no surprise to hear that, for the most part, their Artery Records debut Till The End is everything you’d expect it to be.

On the plus side though, while Till The End may be painfully generic at times, there is no escaping the fact that Phinehas are no musical slouches and, while the likes of “Omnis” and “Forever West” may follow every rule in the book, they’re delivered with the kind of flawless precision that comes from really knowing your metalcore onions. However, where Phinehas help their cause to no end is on tracks like “Seven” where they boldly step outside the musical restraints of their chosen genre and try something a little different. As an individual example of what Phinehas can do, it’s fantastic, as a track stuck in the middle of some reasonably generic, crunchy metalcore, “Seven” is the kind of song that shows why a band like Phinehas are worth persevering with.

Till The End is very much an album of two parts. On the one hand you’ve got the generic metalcore stuff which makes up the bulk of the album but, as demonstrated on tracks like “Seven”, there is another side to the LA outfit and it is one that, should they choose to really explore this, could see them quickly leave the saturated metalcore scene behind as they blossom into something quite special.

Track Listing:

01. Dead Choir
02. White Livered
03. Truth Be Told
04. Non
05. Forever West
06. Tetelestai
07. Coup De Grace
08. Omnis
09. Seven
10. Iliaster (More Than Skin)
11. Evening Grey and Morning Red
12. Moriar
13. Till The End

Run Time: 42:02
Release Date: July 10, 2015

Check out the song “Dead Choir” here.