Album Review: The Rose Line - 'Consequences'

12 February 2014 | 6:58 pm | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

Was it worth the wait? Most definitely!

After years of delays and setbacks, the debut album from The Rose Line is finally here. These guys could have easily thrown in the towel a long time ago but they have persevered and now 'Consequences' is upon us!

 

Many will instantly notice that the Melbourne based quintet undoubtedly share a lot of similarities with fellow Melbourne act Feed Her To The Sharks and national all-stars, Parkway Drive. However, some will dismiss this as just a typical, run-of-the-mill metalcore album, and they would actually be right. This is a modern day metalcore album at heart. An album that many will have heard countless times before from countless other bands. From the dual vocal styles, the drumming, the amount of low end you'll be hearing, the breakdowns, the riffs and harmonics - it ticks a lot of the genres pre-set boxes. But, there is also a strong drive and such a powerful conviction behind 'Consequences' that completely overshadows the generic tendencies it occasionally has.

 

The opening title track 'Can You Hear Me?' start things off in fine fashion and from here on it's (mostly) smooth sailing through 'Consequences'. However, before the bad news, here's the good stuff...

 

One of the album's stand out tracks 'Isolated' features a beautifully crafted guitar intro and has some truly defined instrumental sections that rival that of genre heavyweights Misery Signals. In fact, that's the best comparison for The Rose Line. You can see it in the production values, the vocals, and especially the guitars. Every lead section, every riff, and every chord of this song just screams with influences from Misery Signals. But of course, merely sounding like another band isn't enough. Actually getting Karl Schubach  from Misery Signals to lend his voice to this track is impressive.

 

'Lions' (here's some of the bad news) mainly serves the purpose of being the leading melodic track off the full-length, and could easily be mistaken for one of The Amity Affliction's most recent work (yet the cleans don't have a ridiculous amount of vocal layering like Ahren Stringer...moving on). 'Lions', for the most part, is just 'single' material, and it can't stack up to it's fellow, more superior tracks. Tracks like the superb 'The More We Struggle, The More We Sink' is arguably the best song this band has ever crafted. This track was featured in an old DC Shoes ad back in 2010 and what was once just a snippet is now the fully recorded offering in all of its intended glory. It covers both the melodic metal and hardcore sides of the band so perfectly and is a great example of the band's song-writing capabilities.  

 

The string and piano-laden interlude of 'Pulse' at the record's midway point gives you a quick break before it leads right into the more melodic metal inspired 'Flat Line'. This is where the influence of bands like Soilwork and Killswitch Engage really shine through. 'Become The Hunted' does feature a solid guitar solo, but it still ultimately feels like filler. The same applies for the now re-recorded version of 'We Close Our Eyes' and album closer 'Despite All Reasons', which along with 'Lions', feel quite disposable and skippable after multiple listens.

 

The good always outweighs the bad in the end though, because once everything is all said and done, it's just great to finally see The Rose Line releasing this long awaited album. If you never got round to hearing this band before the 'Consequences' era stated or you have never heard of them to begin with, then now is the time to open your ears.

Even though time has unfortunately withered away parts of  'Consequences', the band's perseverance after all these years has finally paid off with a debut that most groups would kill for! It's tight, powerful, and an incredibly well-executed metalcore album, with plenty of influences from some of the genres best. It is at times generic, but there is more than enough variation and skilful musicianship on this album to make up for it. Hopefully things will start to turn around for The Rose Line from here onwards.  
 

Consequences 

Can You Hear Me?
Lions
Isolated 
We Close Our Eyes
Pulse
Flat Line
Become The Hunted 
Take On The World
The More We Struggle, The More We Sink
Stop Pretending
Despite All Reasons