An application letter to modern metal shows - A review of The Unguided's And the Battle Royale

The Unguided is a band founded by former Sonic Syndicate members. And the Battle Royale is the group's fourth for length release. One can still hear the influence from the Swedish melodic death metal scene here and there thanks to a few select harsh vocals and chugging riffs. On the other side, The Unguided plays a much more contemporary take on this type of music with groove metal riffs and heavy use of melodic keyboards, auto-tuned vocal effects and saccharine choruses. The band actually reminds me of a weaker version of Black Veil Brides. If you think contemporary In Flames has sold out with its alternative rock soundscapes, you clearly haven't listened to The Unguided. 

The band's music isn't horrible but quite generic and I don't think anyone who is older than sixteen would actually listen to this. It's a good album to introduce teenagers to metal music. This album is like a letter of application for being the opening group for the next touring cycles of Bullet For My Valentine or Five Finger Death Punch. The band suits the style of these popular bands without quite reaching their quality. To be honest, I'm quite surprised The Unguided is considered a metal band by this site's severe standards.

All these things don't make And the Battle Royale a bad album if you have an open mind for contemporary alternative metal or want to discover what teenagers who are into metal are listening to these days. The keyboard melodies are skillfully employed and make some tracks catchy, others danceable and a few select ones even epic. A few tracks have predictable but decent melodic death metal riffs like ''Dark Metamorphosis''. The band also proves it has the capability for catchy choruses like ''Legendary''. The polished and lush production blends in very well for this type of music. The album cover is so cheesy it's cool and seems to indicate this album is some sort of conceptual output.

On the other side, the vocals really aren't my cup of tea. Generic melodic death metal vocals without any outstanding elements meet saccharine auto-tuned clean vocals. Bland sing-along passages and a few isolated rap parts are the cherry on the cake. The guitar riffs are often bland and uninspired. The drum sound is too much in the background and the bass guitar rarely stands out. The different songs end up sounding somewhat exchangeable.

If you like contemporary alternative metal carried by harsh and clean vocals as well as diversified keyboard patterns, you might like The Unguided's And the Battle Royale. If you have a teenage daughter and son who listens to modern metal, surprise her or him by sharing this record with your loved one. Other than that, this melodic-groove-metalcore hybrid doesn't have much merit. It's entertaining to listen to it once or twice but it doesn't offer anything memorable.

Final rating: 55%