Invent, Animate – “Stillworld” [Album Review]

There’s a lot of cool stuff happening in the rock/metal world nowadays. Invent, Animate is def. part of that movement, coming from Texas, which lately has been putting out a number of heavy duty acts. These 4 dudes have been around for a handful of years, Stillworld being their 3rd studio release, the second full-length with Tragic Hero Records.

The general sound is reminiscent of Northlane made with bits of real panther, so you know it’s good (That’s an Anchorman reference. Why? Not sure). There’s a nice mix of heavier-than-thou and clean, ethereal guitar work. The riffs tend towards syncopated grooves but are also often ridden w/ cascading leads, some tapped, some letting the ends of phrases ring out together. The most Northlane-ian aspect might be the vocals, ranging from pitched, gritty yells to guttural screams as well as la-las that can hang w/ the best of ’em.

It’s often hard to describe a band without making comparisons, but something uniquely Invent, Animate, methinks, is their ability to let riffs continue to evolve without necessarily repeating them back to back. Side-note: the clean guitar leads on “Dead Roots” use some interesting tonal themes, very eerie. They have a sharp attack, so they cut through the bed of br00tz underneath, and they have a weird pitch bend to them, giving them an Eastern feel. Samurais would throw down hard to this jam, villagers beware!

I definitely see these guys being at the forefront of where “metalcore” is going, more harmonically complex riffs and progressions while retaining the “bounce” that we all fell in love with when we first started listening to core music o’ those many moons ago. I’m not that old. I promise. Gtfo.

Stillworld Track Listing:

01. Agora
02. Indigo
03. White Wolf
04. Celestial Floods
05. Solace
06. Dead Roots
07. Vacant
08. Midnight Hymn
09. Darkbloom
10. Soul Sleep

Run Time: 38:00
Release Date: July 8, 2016

Check out the track “Celestial Floods”