{"id":9548,"date":"2012-11-30T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T00:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=9548"},"modified":"2013-06-01T14:43:29","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T14:43:29","slug":"album-review-fragments-of-unbecoming-the-art-of-coming-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-fragments-of-unbecoming-the-art-of-coming-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMING – The Art Of Coming Apart (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMING
The Art Of Coming Apart<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nCyclone Empire (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Germany\u2019s Fragments Of Unbecoming have been bubbling under for about a decade now. Initially, like many others, I heard the band when Metal Blade released their sophomore effort Skywards, Chapter II: A Sylphe\u2019s Ascension<\/em> (2004). Since that time the band have released two other metal cornerstones (2006\u2019s Skywards, Chapter III: Sterling Black Icon<\/em> and 2009\u2019s Skywards, Chapter IV: Everhaunting Past<\/em>) as well as their latest unchaptered album, The Art Of Coming Apart<\/em>. <\/p>\n

While early albums featured much more black metal influence, Fragments Of Unbecoming have evolved into a beast of melodic death metal. In the spirit of early Soilwork, Dark Tranquility and Gardenian, The Art Of Coming Apart<\/em> is as ferocious as they come, using the melodious guitars to sink the beast\u2019s claws into your skull on song after song.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, \u2018A Silence Dressed In Black\u2019, which starts off with a haunting intro before it unleashes the main song, grinding you down with its melodic leads and pummeling drum and bass work. All the while the vocals scream over top as if trying to convey a message with a collective last breath. \u2018Barren And Bleak\u2019 is solid evidence that the band can take it up another notch even with breakneck drumming and the most beautiful chainsaw guitar work I\u2019ve heard in quite awhile. \u2018Seasons Of Tranquility\u2019 is similar in vein, yet a bit more dynamic and not quite as fast-paced, focusing instead on an impeccable sense of timing. <\/p>\n

While most of this is pretty damn amazing, there are a few moments that just don\u2019t seem to fit. For the most part it\u2019s the instrumentals. \u2018Sundown\u2019 is an acoustic piece near mid-album and while it\u2019s technically proficient, it really takes away from the albums aggression. The same goes for the album\u2019s hollow ending in \u2018Fathomless (Epilogue)\u2019. While I can appreciate the band trying to make the album more dynamic, they just end up coming off like soar thumbs. \u2018Trapping The Unseen\u2019 sounds a bit like a leftover from the band\u2019s early works and has a hard time blending into the album as a whole as well. <\/p>\n

Overall, I really dig this album. Take off the instrumentals and my rating would certainly jump a point, but the fact remains that if you are looking for quality melodic death metal in the vein of the legendary 90s Swedish scene then this is your band. The Art Of Coming Apart<\/em> is the sound of a band really coming into their own and proof positive that if a band can stick around long enough to mature then it\u2019s worth the wait. <\/p>\n

Mark Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMINGThe Art Of Coming Apart Cyclone Empire (2012)Rating: 7.5\/10 Germany\u2019s Fragments Of Unbecoming have been bubbling under for about a decade now. Initially, like many others, I heard the band when Metal Blade released their sophomore effort Skywards, Chapter II: A Sylphe\u2019s Ascension (2004). Since that time the band have released two other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,484],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-fragments-of-unbecoming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9548"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12071,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9548\/revisions\/12071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}