My Ransomed Soul - The Chains That Bind Us Review

Album Year: 2012

Genre: Christian Metal / Hardcore

Location: Maryland, USA

Tracklist:
1. Conflict
2. A Modern Plague
3. Desensitize
4. Fragile Lives
5. The Sleepless Dreamer
6. The Chains That Bind Us
7. Resolution
8. Light The Sky
9. Clouded Minds
10. The Message

My Ransomed Soul, a 5-piece band from Mount Airy, Maryland that is a Christian metal/hardcore act with a impressive resume, just released their debut full length titled “The Chains That Binds Us”.  I have never heard of these guys till now to be honest. The one thing that stands out is how tight these guys are and the vocals are pretty brutal. I’m actually not a big fan of the metalcore singing parts but to each their own at least there is not too much of it and doesn’t sound like T-Pain.

The album, which has a total of 10 tracks, starts off with an intro track titled ‘Conflict’ which seems like a declaration. I’m not sure of the lyrics but that is the feel I get. There is a little build up but nothing to crazy, like a teaser of what how the band actually sounds (if you’re like me and never heard of them before). I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect with the next track but the vocals really stood out on this intro, very powerful. It was for sure not what I was expecting from a Christian band.

‘A Modern Plague’ kicks in with a catchy little intro riff and now you get the full picture of the bands sound as the song progresses. There is a good amount of energy it’s not real heavy but has a lot of elements mixed into their style including breakdowns with bass drops. The drumming is very tight with the guitars not only with this track but all tracks.

Again, many of the riffs are not real heavy but have a catchy pop metal type sound. This can be heard more so on the next track ‘Desensitize’ which has clean singing on it a few times but it’s not whinny and actually doesn’t sound bad. This track seems to go by pretty quick there is a nice solid pace to this one that doesn’t stop.

‘Fragile Lives’ starts right off with a decently heavy riff that is matched by the drums perfectly. I think this might be one of my fav tracks off the album I like the feel of this one and the chorus is a bit catchy the other track I really like is #9 ‘Clouded Minds’.

Track titled ‘Sleepless Dreamer’ is a little short and seems kind of rushed overall. It also features clean vocals but this time over screaming/growling in the background. I did enjoy the start of the track the snare hits matching the guitar are very tight and the following riff has a nice heavy flow.

The title track ‘The Chains That Bind Us’ is the 2^nd longest track on the album at 3:53 (Desensitize is the longest at 3:57) this track has a lot going on with lots of guitar riffs playing different riffs on top of each other, which sounds great. Again there are clean vocals a few times with some screams layered in the background. There is a nice little calm before the storm break mid way with a smooth transaction.

With ‘Resolution’ I had to check my player to see if it was the same band, it is very different then the others and is the shortest track at 1:23. It’s a mix of spoken word and rap. It is very P.O.D sounding and there is not much going on musically on this one. The last few tracks ‘Light the Sky’, ‘Clouded Minds’ and the final track ‘The Message’ wrap up the album. The last track ‘The Message’ sounds like it even has a prayer being spoken over on part.

Most of all the other tracks have a very energized feel but seem ‘safe’ as in they aren’t overly brutal but sellable which isn’t a bad thing. Each track also has really good production everything is mixed very well with a warm sharp tone. The playing is well laid out and the guitars nicely layered. These guys have a machine type sound that is catchy. There are only 2 tracks I enjoyed the most off this album ‘Fragile Lives’ and ‘Clouded Minds’. I do feel that hearing these guys live would be a different story and most likely sound heavier live.

Overall from a scale of 1 to 5, I give My Ransomed Soul a 4.

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