Review: When The Deadbolt Breaks ‘Until It All Collides: The Nightmare Versions’
When I started writing for The Sleeping Shaman a few short months ago, I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I thought I would write a review here and there. I figured it would be a fun way to keep up with new music and something to work on when it was a slow work day – haha.
Meeting Aaron Lewis of When The Deadbolt Breaks, showed me that this little hobby I was pursuing, will not only introduce me to outstanding music but also friendships. This is only my third review so I hope I can do this album justice as lately, I’ve been concentrating on the In Search Of Tone series of interviews.
Remixed albums are not that common in the metal scene. When The Deadbolt Breaks shows that it definitely can, and probably even should be done more often. WTDB joined up with Juno-six to remix three songs (Until It All Collides, Just Before Twilight and Floyd’s Machine). Juno-six also worked on their last song , a cover of My Wild Lover by The Doors. It’s a unique album that I feel will appeal to fans with a broad range of musical taste.
The opening song is more of an opening saga. Until It All Collides clocks in at twenty minutes and forty six seconds. The song begins with a soft riff and nice soft drum beat on the cymbals. When the vocals come in you immediately understand why they did a The Doors cover. It’s as if he is channelling Jim Morrison and Peter Steele to create some deep melodic vocals. At the two minute mark, the song kicks it into high gear with the riff exploding into some epic distortion, accompanied by growling vocals that can only come from a dark dimension. The song continues in this fashion building on its foundation with heavier riffs and thundering drums.
It all comes to an abrupt stop around the ten minute mark. At this point the song takes a unique turn and becomes once again quiet. A slow clean riff with awesome delay repeats, almost putting you into a trance. You have to just stop and take in the music. It’s a beautiful calming instrumental that builds to a tremendous conclusion.
Colliding several genres mightily, while increasing the nightmare factor tenfold. Its music you can not only hear but feel…
The following three songs shine a light onto Juno-six’s remixing skills. The original version of Just Before Twilight is a live version at around ten minutes. The remix version is similar with an added two to three minutes of ambient noise at the end, allowing you to collect your thoughts before tossing you into the next. The growling vocals from the dark dimension are back and this time adding some unique, almost metallic, noises in the background to add to this feeling of chaos. The chaos comes to an abrupt halt with an angelic choir, seemingly to calm everything down. The guitar riff is subtle in the background but letting you know the chaos isn’t entirely over. The song picks back up and finishes off with thundering drums and deafening guitars.
Floyd’s Machine is next up on the list and is one of my favorite songs from their 2018 album Angels Are Weeping… God Has Abandoned… so I was curious to see what they had in store. The intro riff has a phaser effect added and was a pleasant surprise. The guts of the original are clearly heard with an industrial style twist that suits the song perfectly.
Lastly, we have My Wild Love. Originally a cover of The Doors that now has an entirely new twist. WTDB shows that they can reach out of their comfort zone and still deliver quality music. Again going, back to the beginning, Aaron seems to be channelling his inner Jim Morrison and quite effectively in my opinion. I’m also particularly fond of the drum beat which is unique to this genre.
Overall, Until It All Collides: The Nightmare Version lives up to its name. Colliding several genres mightily, while increasing the nightmare factor tenfold. Its music you can not only hear but feel.
Label: Desert Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Josh Schneider
