{"id":36606,"date":"2014-02-01T16:07:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T21:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=36606"},"modified":"2014-02-02T10:47:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T15:47:45","slug":"shapist-foundations-ep-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/shapist-foundations-ep-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Shapist | Foundations<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bryan J. Kilmore<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"'Foundations'Shapist is a relatively new and young progressive metal-core band from St. Louis. The band released its first demo in 2012 titled We Speak Volumes<\/em> and in 2013 released the single “Samsara,\u201d which featured Garrison Lee of ERRA. Recently signed to Valkyrie Records, the band released the EP Foundations<\/em> on Feb. 1. Shapist comprises dual vocalists Rex Carrol and Sam Bedichek; guitarists Trevor West and Devan Labrier; drummer Jake Willman; and bassist Collin Reagan.<\/p>\n

The Foundations<\/em> EP contains six songs that fall into the progressive metal-core genre. The music merges intense progressive arrangements and softer elements with melodic vocal melodies and aggressive grind-core vocals. While the band, again, is relatively young its song-writing skills showcase a mature approach and technical ability. The scream, grind-core vocals may not appeal to everyone, but the musicianship that fuels the songs is the primary strength of the band at this stage of its career.<\/p>\n

Foundations open with \u201cThanatos,\u201d which begins as a trippy, melodic, piano-driven number before distorted guitars are assailed with grind-core vocal aggression. \u201cRebirth\u201d continues this motif of heavy music and aggressive vocals and mid-way drops into a talking vocal that moves into a cleaner vocal melody, before returning the harsher vocals. The music bounces between heavy and trippy arrangements. <\/p>\n

\u201cSamsara\u201d opens with a peaceful intro, then shifts into grind-core vocals and moves back to softer, clean vocal melodies and returns back to aggressive vocals. \u201cCancer\u201d follows with a similar back and forth musical melodrama. About a minute and 20 seconds into the song, a cool solo break hits. Again, aggressive and clean vocals compete throughout the song. \u201cPhantom\u201d and \u201cAdonis\u201d wrap up the EP. <\/p>\n

Separately, each song is dynamic, with the use of heavy and melodic music and melodic vocal melodies and aggressive grind-core vocals. But when listened to as a whole, the scenario becomes repetitive, with no definitive music or vocal hooks for the listener to latch on to. The band has talent, but it\u2019s obvious that it needs to continue to grow through live performances and continue to develop its songwriting craft. As clich\u00e9 as it sounds, Shapist will have to pay its dues like those that have come before them.<\/p>\n

Shapist\u2019s EP, Foundations<\/em>, is available via online retailers, including Amazon.com, iTunes music store and CDBaby.com. <\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Metal-core<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRex Carrol (v)
\nSam Bedichek (v)
\nTrevor West (g)
\nDevan Labrier (g)
\nJake Willman (d)
\nCollin Reagan (b)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tThanatos
\n2.\tRebirth
\n3.\tSamsara
\n4.\tCancer
\n5.\tPhantom
\n6.\tAdonis<\/p>\n

Label: Valkyrie Records<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShapistOfficial<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 6\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bryan J. Kilmore – Senior Columnist — Shapist is a relatively new and young progressive metal-core band from St. Louis. The band released its first demo in 2012 titled We Speak Volumes and in […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,8683,8756,8582,8757],"class_list":{"0":"post-36606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-foundations","10":"tag-progressive-metal-core","11":"tag-shapist","12":"tag-valkyrie-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}