Score: 6.5/10

The Holy Guile has been popular in the metalcore scene since late 2012 when they released their first single titled “Stoke Stokely”. They instantly grew a large following for several reasons. Not onldid The Holy Guile feature the vocalist of the cult-classic band The Crimson Armada, but the guitarist of The Crimson Armada was to be in the band as well. When “Stoke Stokely” was released, people realized that The Holy Guile was almost a parody metalcore band, describing themselves as “pseudometal”. When the band was first established, their Facebook page’s band description read as “Ruining metalcore since 2013” and all of their stage names were references to musicians in the genre (i.e. Jonny Greg parodying Jonny Craig, Greg Owens parodying Craig Owens, etc.). People expected comical lyrics as well as relentless guitars and vocals, and that’s exactly what they received from their debut album “FSU” which was released in 2013. “FSU” was filled with guitar solos, breakdowns, ridiculous lyrics, calling out other bands, and the very occasional rap segments which were always comical. Now, in 2014, The Holy Guile released “OG”, and it does not live up to the expectations that were set by “FSU”.

“OG” starts off with a solid track titled “Deathstar”. It is a fast paced, brutal, to-the-point song very reminiscent of “FSU” lyrically and musically. It has a rap segment that I was genuinely excited about on the first listen. I laughed then moved on. The next track, “Atf” starts with a rap segment. I chuckled a little, enjoyed the rest of the song, and moved on. The third track, “Ak-47” is an entire rap song. I was so annoyed and sick of the rap on this cd that I skipped the song. Constant rapping is not what I was expecting or hoping for from this album. This instantly left a bad taste in my mouth and I was ready to give the rest of the album a pass. Thankfully, “California Gold” came on and saved the album for me. The song is about the late, great Suicide Silence vocalist Mitch Lucker and how he was taken too soon. It’s a great song dedicated to a great friend of the band and a metal legend. This dedication made me continue listening to the album, and I’m fairly glad I did. Many of the songs on the rest of the album are great and I find myself going back and listening to them. The title track “OG” is by far my favorite on the album, and in my opinion one of the best song that’s been put out in 2014 so far. It’s a relentless, brutal track that shreds on the instruments and the vocals right from the start until the very last second.

One thing “OG” did right was the lyrics. The song “Item Nine” in particular makes me laugh out loud almost every time I hear it. The entire song is calling out different bands in the genre by making sentences based off the bands’ names. The part that I find the most comical is when he says “I’m not the devil, do you see me wearing Prada? I’m not that b**** on The Crimson Armada”. This is mostly entertaining due to the fact that he was the vocalist for The Crimson Armada.

While “OG” has some outstanding tracks, they aren’t enough to save the album entirely or from it’s 6.5/10 score. It has some songs that I will pick out and listen to, but I don’t see myself ever sitting down and listening to it from start to finish like I do with “FSU”.