Eighteen Visions : "XVIII"

Checking this album out as there is a bunch of hype about it since they apparently haven't released one in some time. I know they hail from the Myspace era so I many of their fans grew up to listen to real metal. The first song pretty standard hardcore with bigger production and a more metallic guitar sound, not bad but not the second coming either. By the second song I know they will not be able to restrain themselves from going into their more cock rock side that I remember. The screaming is decent and the first verse makes you think they are still pretty serious about being heavy.Then it happens on the chorus and the begin using the same hair spray that Avenged Sevenfold uses. However they are still more firmly planted in hard core than Avenged Sevenfold since their first album.They lead into "Underneath my Gun" with a sample from Ghostbusters. The clean vocals to waste as much time showing their true colors. Very similar in it's intention as the second song though the song writing is not as on point.

They bring clean guitar tones to the table for a second going into "Live Again" and the double bass work is decent. The song has more dynamic flow and I like the fact it's darker. I guess if I had to listen to metal core this would be the way to do it. I am always willing to sacrifice overt heaviness for better song writing. "Laid to Waste In the Shit of Man" will surely get a good pit going. even with the cock rock vocals that slide in. "the Oath" is very precise in it's hammering and proves they are good at what they do I just don't know if I have grown out of what they do. "Spit" has a pretty decent chorus, and I think I like the lyrics even though they are written with a tone of over blown teen angst. There is a very Guns n Roses like melodic break down that almost makes these guys seem like an angry Steel Panther.  "Picture Perfect" doesn't do anything new and makes it clear the formula is place.

"Fake Leather Jacket" uses a sample from "Wild at Heart" and has a big hair metal chorus. It's well done , but almost sounds too much like Avenged Sevenfold. I don't think Avenged Sevenfold even sounds that much like themselves anymore.There seems to be a lot of feeling in " For This I Sacrifice". For what it is it's a good song it really depends on how high your threshold for what this is might be . I think this is the face of modern metal for the mainstream kids in the suburbs who seem reluctant to change, it's heavy enough without presenting any real danger. At the end of the day it's well done and pretty well written for the most part ,my only problem with the album is it's likeness to Avenged Sevenfold ,so I will give it an 8.5, I am sure their fans are going to be oblivious to the issue I have with it as that's their thing.