Glass Cloud - The Royal Thousand REVIEW

       Man, I'm on such a hipster roll today - first a plug of a band no one has heard about, now a review of an album by a fairly unknown band? I need to check my irony levels.
       Anyway, last Saturday I went to the Worcester, MA leg of the Scream it Like You Mean It 2012 tour. The concert, which featured headliners Attack Attack!, We Came as Romans, and the Acacia Strain, was a phenomenal experience that showed me that the punk and metalcore scene of the bay state isn't as tiny as I was led to believe. But while it's always fun to mosh out and go nuts to your favorite headlining bands, one of the best parts of any concerts are the lesser-known opening bands. While fewer people get excited about them, it's nevertheless an excuse to exercise your 'do I like this band?' muscle.
        In any case, I was incredibly excited for Hands Like Houses. The Canberra, Australia quartet  played first, and while their set was pitifully short, I may have been one of the few people singing along. It was still great to hear 'Antarctica' live and later even meet the band when they swung by the merch stand. Hands Like Houses are only on their second tour ever, and had grown some extremely strapping moustaches to celebrate it. They were great guys who weren't afraid to answer questions, and the ego that plagued other bands (Caleb Shomo of Attack Attack! flipped off fans that tried to get his attention) was completely absent.
        Nevertheless, it was the next band that stole the show. Virginia quartet Glass Cloud erupted onto the stage with the fury and energy that makes metalcore so fun. Compared to the Hands Like Houses set, which had been great fun, but no one had gotten excited about, Glass Cloud was opening pits up by their first song, and kept the intensity going resolutely for their entire set. Even though it was, again, too short, I was even more surprised to learn that their first album, The Royal Thousand, hadn't even been released. Luckily, they were selling advance copies at the merch stand and I was able to get my hands on one. When I got home, I gave the record a listen and was not let down.
        Fronted by ex-Of Mice and Men vocalist Jerry Roush, who combines his blistering screams with stylishly refreshing low vocals, and accompanied by the 8-string roar of guitarist Joshua Travis, Glass Cloud were a fun romp through chug-heavy metalcore with some of the most sickeningly enjoyable breakdowns I have heard this summer. Seriously. The end of 'She is Well and Nothing Can Be Ill' would have been spectacular if they had played it live. Combined with some of the fastest riffs I've heard on a metalcore album, and a relentless drum line, the sound of Glass Cloud can only really be described as 'badass'.
          Roush's cleans set the bridges up for the invariably awesome drop into both his unclean vocals and the rush that only a breakdown played on an 8-string can produce. During verses and choruses, Travis' guitar works screams in conjunction with Roush's voice, producing an awesome sound that is hard to find these days. The band manages to sound similar to Of Mice and Men without completely copying them in terms of the overall feel, but closer inspection yields a far different experience.
         While Glass Cloud keep the intensity and anger at an all-time high, it can get boring at times, and this is the one downside to The Royal Thousand - the heaviness begins to blur together. With the exception of the introductions of  'Memorandum' and 'If He Dies, He Dies', The Royal Thousand is an audible tour de force from start to finish which, while great at first, begins to grow stale by the end. This isn't helped by the fact that at times, the sound itself isn't very palatable - quite simply, it gets too heavy for its own good.
           Basically, everything begins to sound too distorted and dissonant. Thankfully, these breaks are few and far between, but they still happen, and it doesn't sound very good, quite simply. The breakdowns somehow manage to stay fresh, probably due to the liberties Travis takes with rhythm.
            All in all, Glass Cloud are fundamentally a band that sounds far better live. They're heavy as all hell, and a great way to purge anger when you're by yourself. The only thing is that they're probably best enjoyed sparingly - their lack of variety will invariably make what is overall a solid debut album stale. They're a good time if you're looking for some mindless fun, and I recommend checking them out.
             Listen to 'Falling In Style' here: