Gently straddling a moderate rhythm just enough to form a steady beat, delicate strings greet us not long after pressing play on the new single “Some Gave All” from metal unit Broken Past, but as charismatic as their introduction to the song is, these first few bars have nothing on the deluge of destruction about to befall us in the next six and a half minutes. There’s an ominousness here that you can’t escape no matter what volume you’re listening to “Some Gave All” at; whether presented to us quietly or at full-volume, the music feels like a symbolic interpretation of what it might feel like to be lost and bewildered amid the gunfire of battle.
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Broken Past are not graphic with their lyrics, nor do they try to give us a chest-beating endorsement of the violence that comes with engaging an adversary in war, or worse yet, a politicized narrative that has little to do with supporting our troops and everything to do with a bloodthirsty ideology. Instead, Broken Past are reminding us that the men and women who give everything to preserve our freedom deserve to be remembered now and forever, and last time I checked, that message appealed to anyone who loves this country.
Now, let’s get into the mechanics of the music itself. The bassline in this track is downright abusive, but it’s balanced out just enough by the guitar and drum parts to feel like that excessive when it counts the most. The lead vocal is wonderfully anthemic – though not in a Dio fashion, mind you – and complements the grit of the music with a feverish passion that allows for it to run the melodic spectrum all the way down to a guttural growl when needed. It’s the undisputed centerpiece of the song, as it conveys the lyrics that form the foundation for everything we see in the music video, and in some ways it prevents the very notion of filler from entering the grander scheme of things here. Even the virtuosic guitar solo steers away from the overindulgences that have come to plague heavy metal for too many years now, and that’s more than I can say for most any of the top-charting singles in this genre at the moment.
Broken Past – Some Gave All (Official Video)
Some Gave All * OFFICIAL Music video release New Jersey heavy metal act BROKEN PAST new single and official video “Some Gave All” Broken Past signed with Hig…
A slow-motion thrasher that is uncompromising in every department, I think I speak for a lot of critics when I say that “Some Gave All” raises the bar for Broken Past and their rivals by leaps and bounds. There are a lot of different ways that you can pay tribute to a hero, but when it comes right down to it, artistry like this is about the only gift that could even come close to being good enough to say thanks for what those in uniform do every day for those of us in the United States. The video for “Some Gave All” is one that every American rocker should see this summer, and for me, its soundtrack is among the best in metal right now.
Clay Burton