Artist: Becoming The Archetype
Album: Celestial Completion
Genre: Metalcore
Label: Solid State

As much as someone might feel compelled to pigeon-hole the band Becoming The Archetype for being a Solid State band, but would be sorely mistaken to do so before giving their new album Celestial Completion a solid listen. Sure, they’re a Christian band who plays metalcore-esque music, but with such a bad connotation I don’t think metalcore really applies here. Celestial Completion turns out to be a great culmination of styles, musicianship, textures, and powerful (albeit simple) lyrics that is superior to most metalcore bands out there today.

What is certainly Becoming The Archetype’s most varied work to date is also very clearly their most ambitious to date. On top of including a multitude of irregular sounds, instruments and techniques the performances on all songs are absolutely spot-on. Each part of the album is pretty technical and very tight, but never to the point where it feels forced. There are only a few moments on the album that feel a bit forced or out of place, such as the shift to being a swing/ska song at the end of “Cardiac Rebellion” which heavily features a horn section and has a pretty killer trombone solo by Five Iron Frenzy’s Dennis Culp.

Christian bands often get a bad rap for their lyrics being overly preachy, but you won’t find any of that among Becoming The Archetype’s lyrics (not overtly, anyhow). It’s no stretch of the imagination when the lyrics to apply to their faith, but they’re saved by lines such as the the chorus in “The Magnetic Sky” that goes like this: “Here at the end of the world / planets fall and we are rising / soul and sky are magnetizing / here at the end of the world / we are witnessing together / the inception of forever.” At no point are the lyrics overbearing, and more often that not, are quite well-written.

In addition to the lyrics always being very much appropriate for the musical accompaniment, the guitar work is also very classy on this album. While moments of guitar wankery may rear their ugly head every now and again, there’s really only one section on the album that’s just pure, unadulterated shredding and that’s at the first solo of “Elemental Wrath: Requiem Aeternam Part II.” A step up from Jon Star’s parts from pervious albums, Daniel Gailey has stepped in and proven to be an excellent choice to fill some pretty large shoes.

A huge step in the progressive direction from 2008’s Dichotomy, Celestial Completion could very well turn out to be Become The Archetype’s magnum opus unless they somehow find a way to top it in the next release. For now, however, it shall remain their most broad and accomplished work.

Score: 9/10
Review written by: Jordan Munson

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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