Denver's Call Of The Void have put together something special with Ageless. Their second album finds the band, who impressed on 2012 debut Dragged Down A Dead End Path, laying down their stunning metallic hardcore with even more diversity and confidence. Comparisons could be made to Trap Them and Nails, but even more so I'm hearing His Hero Is Gone in the song structures (blast beats used more as fills than as driving forces) and the vibe (despair masked by aggression). It's a comparison that guitarist Patrick Alberts won't deny, and he adds that the band also has a pretty big Canadian influence.

"When we were teenagers, there was one point where His Hero Is Gone and Cursed were the only bands we listened to," says Alberts. "I remember when Cursed II came out that was the biggest thing and that was a turning point for (guitarist) Gabe (Morales) and I as friends and music fans, like, this is the type of music we want to play. We used to play tech metal, like we were into The Dillinger Escape Plan and really into throwing jazzy stuff in our music, which still kind of makes it in there, subtly now. But, yeah, His Hero Is Gone and Cursed, and Tragedy too, definitely."

Alberts agrees that this album is more diverse than their first one (both have been released by Relapse Records), and adds that the band is already working on new material which is continuing the progression forward.

"It's entirely a step up from the other one," he says about Ageless, "and I hope people will realize that. The other one was pretty bare bones and we spent a lot of time making our music more dynamic. We made a point when we were writing this one that we needed to add certain things that would separate us from the general crowd just being brutal all the time."

 

 

Mission accomplished: take a tune like "The Sun Chaser," which has the strangest, and coolest, main guitar riff to ever rear its head in a crusty metallic hardcore tune.

"That was written by our new guitar player," says Alberts. "We kinda suck at guitar, like we never took lessons, we've just been playing for so long that we know how to play guitar well. He's a weird guy, and he writes weird riffs. That one's weird, to me it sounds like a submarine sonar, every time it hits that little high note. I think it's really cool and interesting. Every time we hit that note, to me it kind of has this weird pulse to it that's separate from the actual song, which I think is really cool and not necessarily intentional."

It's just one example of how Ageless sets this band apart from the pack, although they're operating within a fairly small micro-genre world to begin with. Nails are creating a good amount of buzz these days, and for good reason, but watch out if you're thinking about comparing Call Of The Void to that grind/hardcore band.

"It bugs me when people compare us to Nails," admits Alberts, "because when I think of Nails I think of those bands that have the HM-2 distortion pedal and they throw in a lot of blast beats. But when it comes to blast beats, we try to do it like His Hero Is Gone, put them where they're not necessary. People call us a grind band because we have blast beats and I completely disagree with that, as well (laughs). His Hero Is Gone were awesome because they'd always have the thickest riffs that could be stoner riffs but they played them at punk speed, and that's pretty much what we try to do."

When it all comes down to it, Alberts says he refers to Call Of The Void as a metallic hardcore band, but if Ageless proves anything it's that these guys are way more interesting than that rather dull label leads people to believe.

"We love punk and hardcore and we like to add those influences as much as possible, but we love big riffs and stuff like High On Fire," he says. "Our thing is we try to be like High On Fire and Converge mixed together, and I don't know any other band that necessarily does that."