Reviews

I’ve always had an extreme amount of respect for Poison the Well.  They were one of the first bands that I discovered when I got into the metal/hardcore genre.  I fell in love with their first album, The Opposite of December, and since then I have been a fan; to this day I consider that album one of the best metalcore albums ever.  The band’s last release, You Come Before You, was a major release for the band and was praised by many.  I, however, was not a big fan of that album.  I thought that the album just seemed like it was trying to be something different but never really achieved it.  The album was good but to me, being a fan, the album was a disappointment.  With that being said, Versions marks their first in almost four years…and the wait was worth it.
 
I didn’t have much expectation for this album before I listened to it, but once I got a few songs in, I couldn’t resist how great of a CD this is.  I can describe the album as being more ambient and experimental than past Poison the Well releases.  There is still the aggression that they have always had but this album has so many more non-traditional Poison the Well riffs and song structures.  This is probably the most dissonant thing that I’ve heard a hardcore band release in a while.  The structure of the melodies on this album exceeds the past albums tremendously; they actually make sense and fit into the song structure.  The listener can not deny the awesomeness of the vocal melodies fused with drone-like chords in the track “Nagina.“ Other great tracks include “Slow Good Morning” and “You Will Not be Welcomed.”
 
The band left Atlantic Records and signed with Ferret Records for their new release and I think Ferret gave them more freedom than a major label might have.  The band used the same production team from the last album in Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lovstro, who also recorded the amazing The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused.  With this great team on board, the album has some of the best production that I’ve heard from any label, indie or not.  The only complaint I have with the album is that the songs seem too short; an instrumental or one long, almost jam-like song on the record would have been wonderful.  I like the amount of balls that this album has but I think the record would have been even more of a swift kick if they would have included an instrumental track, which is something the band has always seemed to have been pushing towards.  Who knows though, when these songs translate to the live environment, they just might play some extended and longer versions.  This album still offers a good amount of music for your money, clocking in at just less than 42 minutes; it is not short by any means.  If you are looking for a good experimental hardcore album, you need to pick this one up.