Fronted by ex-DESPISED ICON co-vocalist Alex Erian, the smartest thing Montreal/Ottawa's OBEY THE BRAVE has done for itself is acknowledge that it isn't out to reinvent anything at all, including the Gothenburg-meets-hardcore archetype that was the obsession of so many AT THE GATES historical revisionists long after that band was dead and (temporarily) buried. The aforementioned acknowledgement is important because it frees Obey The Brave from the lazy criticism that Young Blood is just another metalcore record, an effort that might have felt more at home in the heady days of 2007 instead of the stormy, unsure tidal waters that are metal's zeitgeist in 2012, and that sense of freedom allows Obey The Brave to fully concentrate on its strengths which, conveniently, happen to be writing top-tier metalcore. Taking the best one percent of metalcore's various permutations and executing an album that is a near perfect distillation of the subgenre, Young Blood rages and sages like the expert it is, the record very obviously conceived by scene veterans who know how to engage and entertain. Lone French-language track 'Garde La Tete Froide' (in English meaning 'keep your cool') is Young Blood's undisputed highlight, the song a memorable summation of where metalcore has been and where it'll go while Obey The Brave is on guard.
