It would be an exaggeration to say hardcore isn't my thing. I used to really be into and then the days of Myspace came and ruined the bulk of it. This Australian brings a varied form of it that owes more to newer screamo bands like La Dispute. Their drummer helps bring a varied maze of tempos to the party and tends to steer clear of too many punk beats which I appreciate. I like how on "Worm of the Earth" the tempo can be so jarring. On the more moody and melodic "Roots" the vocal get mixed into the background. The vocals are this bands weak spot as the stay in an emotive yell but its pretty monotone. Even when they vary their phrasing to mimic singing. "Mona" is interesting as the run a sample of a lady talking and build it into a gang vocal chorus.
They lower the bar for themselves by going into more run of the mill hard core for "War on Film". There is a lower growled vocal under the yelled vocal on the title track which has more emotion behind it. There is also the darker current that I was reading this band had. Which the bar for dark is high for me. Some of these songs are so short it's easy to loose track of where you are .I went from "Midnight Man" to the last song without knowing what point in the album I was at. It has a cohesive feel, sometimes there is a more Fugazi sing song quality to the backing vocals. The main vocals are pretty redundant at this point. There is a mathy riff that comes in towards the end of the song.
They use similar melodic riffs to lead into things as Converge at times. This gives "Good By You" and edge over some of the other songs. They end the album with "Dead in the Living Room" This last song didn't really do a lot for me to engage my ears , but it's not bad. I will give this album an 8.5. With more varied vocals it might have scored higher. If you like more modern screamo I guesss that shouldn't bother you and you can round it up.
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