There is a good bit of drama surrounding this album, which has nothing to do with the music , but has bloggers speculating as to if this album will even see release. The drama involves accusations made against the singer by his ex-girl friend who also played bass in the band.Truth be told only the people involved know the truth, so I don't give a fuck about anything but the music. The music in question is a dark style of very metallic hard-core that crossover past the point of being able to see what which genre is which. Jeff Lohrber , who has played in Today is the Day and Trap Them is the ring leader creating something that falls closer to Myspace metal in some ways than say Converge, but I like the prophetic title track "Fail to Feel Safe". There is an chaotic element to their sound that is still confined to the context of the song.
There is a more punk feel to the beginning of "By Demons Denied"where the singer exclaims that there is a hell for him that he is living in. The album carries hefty momentum as it over powers you, yet the band doesn't forsake melody. The clean vocals are set back in the mix , in some ways this reminds me of a less down tuned Drop Dead Gorgeous ."Euphoric Revenge" is full of hate as he wishes someone the worse and has a front row seat to watch them suffer. "Isolation Sickness" is the first song that comes up on the more lukewarm filler side. The coarser vocals dominate until the layered chorus, and there is some sonic guitar playing that helps the song out."Sinister Drifter" doesn't bring anything new to the table that we haven't heard from a thousand bands before. The more melodic side returns on "Sailing the Sea of Fire". "Haunted" has a cool chorus , but the first verse is a mush of chugging. The chug coming out of the chorus works better in that context. The more punk side of hardcore is shown on "Drownage". It has some thrashing riffs thrown in. The metal elements feel better to me on "Demolition Praise".
In some way the purging of demons done on this albums makes me think of these guys as a hardcore version of Nachtmystium. Another band whose front man brings upon a fair amount of controversy and negative press. However when you are playing metal shouldn't that be the case ? "Malady" opens in a haunting melodic manner. The song kicks into and soars with a vengeance. He announces on this song that he is singing for their loss and sorrows. The clean vocals are well placed and don't just stick to the good cop bad cop dynamic. "La Furia" keeps a similar sonic unease, but throws it at you at a more upbeat pace, with gang vocals tossed in as accents. The song slows down and builds intensity. They slow down and pound into "Sabotage Within" and churn it into a more sludge ridden form of hardcore.
Overall this angry album is more emotionally rawer than most of the other more mainstream slanted metal Century Media will be releasing will hear this year. I think it is still rough enough around the edges so that fans who have stuck with the band up to this point will dig it, I like it better than some of their more underground peers like Xibalba as there are more layers and melody kicked into the density. I'll give it a 9, I am not sure how many repeated listens I will get out of it , but I can not help but acknowledge it is a well crafted addition to the genre is represents.
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