Obey The Brave

Mad Season (2017)

Maximillian Power

Obey The Brave are a Canadian band with members hailing from both Quebec and Ontario. The band formed from the ashes of Canadian tech-metal greats, Despised Icon; and while Obey The Brave still utilize heavy breakdowns like Despised Icon, that is essentially where the comparisons end.

From what I previously understood, Obey The Brave were heavy and mosh oriented metalcore, and while that is still partially true the band has fully embraced using melodic choruses and singing parts with Mad Season. The record started out exactly how I expected with “On Thin Ice”, a heavy mosh intro and chugging verses, but suddenly I was thrust into the first (of many) melodic interludes, which in this context I found slightly off putting. I do not want to rip on the bands desire to incorporate melody into their music, I love catchy parts as much as anyone – to be fair, probably more than some, but the delivery here needs work. The band has successfully added some other influences, such as faster melodic hardcore verses, which add some nice dynamics and contrast to the heavy and down tuned breakdowns. The issue here is throwing in awkward and odd fitting melodic choruses that seem to be there just for the sake of it.

Now that I have said my piece about the misuse of melody used on Mad Season I want to take this opportunity to say that Obey The Brave showcase obvious potential in regards to moving in a more melodic direction. I enjoyed the faster paced melodic hardcore songs, most notably “On Our Own” and “Feed The Fire”, the band proves that they have the chops going forward to sound more organic and avoid parts that sound forced. For the few songs that hit the mark, the band unfortunately stumbles a long the way with songs that remind me of displaced screamo. I find it hard to ignore the comparison here to Stick To Your Guns; the influence, whether intentional or not, is very obvious to me. That is not necessarily a bad thing, I can get behind what STYGs are doing, but Obey The Brave need to do a bit more work before they can blend melody and hardcore as skilfully as STYGs can.

All in all, Obey The Brave has put out a record that fits the current Warped Tour melodic hardcore mold. The production value is almost perfect for the genre, and all of the musicians showcase undeniable skills on their instruments, the main problem is that the content does not draw me in. There are some shining moments within Mad Season, but the songs (and the album itself) are too long, with pretty lacklustre content, both musically and lyrically. I will gladly check out the bands next release, because as far as I can tell, the band is still trying to grow into a new sound; unfortunately the biggest problem with this record are the growing pains that catch the band halfway between a mosh metal band and a melodic hardcore band that enjoys pop-punk.