Your Spirit Dies : "My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest

 The first three songs of this South Carolina band find them perhaps too eager to indulge their hyper aggression as they all run together. The second song is more of a straightforward in-your-face metal-core explosion that finds the band largely staying closer to the hard-core roots of the genre, as from dizzying guitar work that fins the riffs taking wild twists and turns The vocals take on more of a blackened snarl for a verse here and there which is the most metal moment, the tight breakdown style chugs are effective. "A Rose For Every Stone' has a little more flash in the riffage that sets the stage marginally different. It was the first clue after the first two songs blasted by that it all collided into my ears. 

One thing I can say about this sort of thing, is they do not put the breakdowns in the same predictable places. "In the Depths of Grief" does not introduce anything new and finds the band raging into the same kinds of temper tantrums they have been stomping around with for the first three songs. I could use more sounds and more dynamics, while I know some listeners of this genre are content with less and just want angry music karate dance to. There is a more Meshuggah-like tension to the chug that leads into "Monochrome" but rather than doing something cool with it that charges off in the direction this entire album seems to be heading. I think they are just doing a better job of attacking in this manner here. 

There is a little darker deliberate tone to the syncopated grind of "Born Forsaken".  "Shrouded in Silence" finds one guitar offering more melody that helps add color to a well-worn blueprint for this kind of thing that these guys play pretty close to the original designs that have been in motion now for at least 25 years in the post-Victory records era of Hard-core. 'Ritual Sacrament" finds the drums more frantic, as the guitar try to find a place to insert catchier riffs.  "A Snow in Summer" has more groove to it that works better for me, that is if they can keep things from racing away with them. The songs are typically kept under the four-minute mark with only two breaking that threshold., so they get to the point and cram as many riffs into them as they can.

The Melodic section to "Unjust God" is needed as the relentless chug was beginning to wear thin. Though when they kick in it pretty much follows the same formula that has dominated this album. This can pretty much be said of every song from this point on they are cranking as they fall into the same sonic pigeonhole. A melodic riff to break them out of it for a measure or four. Norma Jean is a fair reference point, but I don't think they are as dark or sonically textured as Norma Jean. I will give this album an 8, as they execute the songs well even if they are not covering any new ground here, but surely will mass some fans who prefer the more familiar sounds. 

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