Album Review: Liar - Invictus

A Congress of Rage and Fury

We all know the reputation of metalcore in the metal community. Justifiably it got a negative reputation. So many bands play something that is artistically shallow and watered down, so many bands just copy the then hot trend. The fans do not really help to improve the image either as they often seem to be too busy with themselves and what is going on right now instead of trying to grasp the music they like on a deeper level. I do dare to say that lately there has been somewhat of a rehabilitation with bands like Code Orange or Ken Mode leading the way. However artistically valid metalcore is not something new, all these new bands actually take influence from what metalcore used to be. One of the prime examples of what metalcore used to be is the classic H8000 scene from Belgium and one of the very best products from that scene is Invictus which Liar released in 97.

Right from the first second Liar unleashes a storm of rage on the listener. While the base riff style they play is thrashy Agnostic Front derived they go well beyond that fundament. With their wide palette of influences the band members manage to turn dissociative death metal riffs into something much more immediate and enraged. They manage to give hardcore riffs a melodic and rhythmic depth and even diversity previously pretty much unheard of in the hardcore community. On the 6^th track titled Natural Order they even manage to fit a riff with a clear black metal origin into a hardcore jacket. The album even closes with a track that is pretty much full on black metal. The super pissed off and excellent vocals lie in the hardcore camp. The drummer seems to come from a thrash metal background. This album truly is metal plus hardcore and all the better for it.

This album and the wider H8000 scene did eventually prove to be influential on what would happen to metalcore in the 00’s. Quite a few of those later bands took elements from this sound and combined it with lame rehashed At the Gates riffs. However you can’t blame it on this record because it simply is a classic that everyone into extreme metal and hardcore should at least listen to once. 
Final score 94/100

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