Traitors - 'REPENT'
Get your black hoodies and best spin-kickin’ shoes out of the ol’ footlocker, deathcore heavyweights Traitors just released their much-anticipated new album REPENT. Starting their promotional campaign in October 2018 with their single ‘DWELL’, the hype leading to this sixth addition to Traitors’ discography was pretty hot to say the least; and this latest release lived up to all of it and then some. I’ll do my absolute best to be unbiased in this review, but I must add the disclaimer that I am a gigantic Traitors fan, and would probably love this album even if it was just 2 straight hours of Tyler Shelton yelling “MOO” over the same Chug pattern.
The album starts as traditionally as it could, with a short yet sweet intro track that makes it perfectly clear this album is going to be pretty god damn heavy. It’s literally just one breakdown, not even that creative or notable of one, but sets a proper tone for the tracks to follow. There’s a gritty, powerful sound and energy that has been lacking in the previous years since the release of Night Terrors in 2015. While many fans of the newer releases, particularly 2016’s Mental State, might miss the Nu-Metal-Esque groove and attitude of the last few years, O.G. Traitors fans will hear everything in REPENT that made them fall in love with the band in the first place. It’s monstrously heavy and unapologetically angry.
Traitors ‘Repent’
The tone throughout the album is consistent in it’s delivery of hard-hitting rhythms and chunky riffs. You won’t find any ridiculously technical guitar work or ambient harmonies within the half-hour runtime, but that’s certainly not what you listen to Traitors for in the first place. REPENT is as aggressive as 2015’s The Hate Campaign with a matured production and musical approach. However, no track on this album would sound too out-of-place on THC. Honestly, the biggest critique I have to offer is the fact that as a whole, it’s so reminiscent of their earlier work that it almost feels like fan-service to their audience. It’s certainly not a bad thing, and the band and its individual members have hyped the album for the last few months promising “the heaviest music of their careers” which they absolutely delivered.
REPENT is a crushing display of everything Traitors and Hardcore/Beatdown Metal fans love. Breakdowns on breakdowns, crazy grooves, and what I believe to be the best vocal work Tyler Shelton has ever delivered. It is really an album for the fans of their roots. I can’t say it's necessarily groundbreaking, but it is a badass album and a welcome return to the sound Traitors pioneered and consistently perfect. Check out IGNORANCE and LEFT TO ROT for a good first impression, and try your best to not windmill the nearest unsuspecting face.