ADVERSARY

Singularity

Trustkill

Adversary have made quite a statement on their assertive debut album, not only establishing themselves as one of America's more promising new metal acts, but one-upping some of their veteran peers. In fact, Singularity succeeds in every way that Trivium’s bloated Shogun fails, unleashing a barrage of riffs and vocal hooks, while remaining disciplined enough to know when to say when. While the ubiquitous, mid-paced melodic death metal sound of In Flames is put to full use, the quintet refuses to rely on that style as a crutch. Instead, they’ve added a taut, precise thrash element similar to Kreator, while vocalist William Clapp’s authoritative clean passages offset Mille Petrozza-like snarls. The throttling “Hedonist” is a terrific, barnstorming opener and the churning title track could pass for a very solid Clayman outtake, but ultimately it’s the multilayered instrumental “Ashes Of Faith” that best displays this talented band's tremendous potential.

—Adrien Begrand