Altar of I – Human Resources

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Hailing from Austria and formed in 2016, Melodic Death Metal/Metacore act ALTAR OF I present their debut album here, which contains sixteen songs. “Wiindigookaanzhimowin” is the first. There is an interesting pattern here…a proper song is followed by a short mood-setter in almost every case. The opening song is a bit weird…with acoustic guitars and harmonized vocals. “Spreading the Disease” is deep and dark, with harsh vocals and some supportive background elements. The instrumental interlude/bridge bring a different sound to the table. “Creation of Godzilla” has some pretty intricate guitar work. This is the backbone of the album. The guitars dance over the harsh vocals and galloping drums. I hear a bit of DARK TRANQUILLITY in this song.

“Arkanus” begins with some nice symphonics. Although the riff and vocals aren’t anything overly complicated, the sound is thick and properly rounded out. The lead breaks also help in this regard. “BeautyBeast” is exactly that…a song that opens with splendor and beauty in the guitars. Even know the vocals are very harsh, they are mirrored with cleans. The beast then takes over, but the vocal style remains. “The Sourcerer” is a shorter offering, but still has a hard edge to it. Compared to some of the other songs however, this one is fairly uneventful. “Subject” begins with a sound similar to the great IN FLAMES, where the harmonized guitars tease the landscape of Death Metal. This song is energetic and well thought out. The clean vocals however are just a bit pitchy at times.

“A.I.” is the point in the album where the band probably should have stopped. 16 songs are overkill in a genre that has been done and re-done. The album begins to stall on this track, and the band isn’t offering anything new. “Goyaale” closes the album, and this was the sound I was waiting for. Soft, solemn piano notes open the song. Where was this before? In the many things that Melodic Death Metal can bring, this is an almost essential element. Melodic Death Metal is one of those genres that was really original when it first came out. But we are talking about the late 90’s. It’s now been close to 30 years since it first hit. To stay relevant/interesting today, bands have to be on top of their A game. “Human Resources” is unfortunately not a fresh take on the genre. The band have some musicianship, but their songwriting is what needs the most work. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.

Songwriting: 4
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 3
Production: 8