The Human Abstract - Digital Veil (2011)

Band: The Human Abstract
Country: Los Angeles, California
Style: Progressive Metal/Metalcore
Label: E1

The Human Abstract is an oddball for me, as, in my eyes, they've gotten better with each album. The musicianship in the band is great, no question about that, but the vocals of ex-vocalist Nathan Ells never really sat well with me, though I did think that he had improved on their last album, 2008's "Midheaven." This new album is the first with new vocalist Travis Richter, and from what I've heard, is a better fit with the band.

When I first heard that Travis was going to be the new vocalist for the band, I was skeptical, as his band before joining was just awful in my opinion, From First to Last. I remember the first track I heard from this album was Faust, and that really got me on board with this album. That song in particular was heavy, progressive, and the vocals were actually something I could actually say were good. Travis' growls are nice and clear sounding, but definitely have the lowness of a death metal vocalist, but his singing voice is more melodic and a lot more fitting, to me, than Nathan's voice was.

Musically, the band is always on top of their game, giving plenty of interesting performances, but usually sticking somewhere between the Dream Theater-meets-Meshuggah range of things, making use of the progressive tendencies and instrumental prowess of the former, while taking in some of the more tech metal stop-start breakdowns of the latter. While tracks like the title-track, Digital Veil, exhibit some of the band's more technical aspects, remaining a track that makes use of no clean vocals or softer interludes. Meanwhile a track like Antebellum definitely has the band's signature neo-classical stylings running throughout it. The guitar playing is most likely what drew a good portion of the band's fanbase anyway, and I don't think they'll be disappointed by what's being played on here.

Overall, this is a solid album, probably my favorite record from the band. This is definitely a record that I could see more tech metal fans getting into, as it is a bit heavier than what I remember the band sounding like. If you like technical or progressive metal check this band, and album, out.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Digital Veil, Antebellum, Horizon to Zenith