Until 2006 when My brother turned me onto the album "God and the Devil are Raging Inside of Me" I was under the impression they were some sort of Christian pop punk band. There debut kinda fell in with the whole Myspace emo thing. Their newest album starts off very dark with an amazing vocal when the song kicks in after a sampled narrative. The vocal is amazing because of the sound invoked.Jesse Lacey doesn't have the best pipes in the business, but he works well with what he has and knows where to put his voice. The instrumentation is sparse but allows the vocals room to do their thing. Right from the start of "Can't Get it Out" it reminds me of the Pixies with how the bass drives the song. There is a little more of the pop punk thing on the chorus. The guitar is strummed in the verses with a very Pixies like feel. The vocal harmonies on this album are very well layered and the vocals benefit from stellar production. The first song that doesn't do anything for me is "Could Never Be Heaven" . His voice sounds fine, it's just a tedious folk ballad that drones on with the chorus. They return to more of a strum of acoustics with vocal layers playing against it. The =Effected guitars of "Same Logic/ Teeth" provide atmosphere as the guitars build the dynamics. The slink of the bass is what makes this song a winner, though it has lots of ebb and flow. Some of the cooler parts they could hold onto longer. There is a yelled vocal that reminds me of Bright Eyes' more aggressive moments. The acoustic break toward the end of the song is unexpected and cool. The beginning of "137" feels like "Heart Shaped Box". The vocals find Lacey in his sweet spot. Some of the guitars sounds like Pink Floyd and the guitar solo section is almost metal. The mid-tempo "Out of Mana" is more conventional rock , but it still has their signature upon it, mainly in the lyrical content and care free brooding of the vocals. Way more guitar solos than you would expect from them.They have been listening to way more classic rock, the guitar of "In the Water" starts off with a hint of Yes, then the songs goes down a bluesy road not unlike Stone Temple Pilots in the way the vocals fall. While it's way better the slight tinge of Southern rock could find this sharing the stage with Shinedown. So not a sell out but more accessible. The clean guitar of "Desert" is well played though the lyrics are semi-religious, so that brings me back to pondering their message. Though I find him to be full of doubt so I can work with that as it's not preachy. "No Control" finds them back in a more grunge place this time closer to Weezer. "451" is one of the albums most straight forward rock songs which will transition well into a live setting , but this version aside from the lyrics falls a tad flat on me. The moody "Batter Up" closes the album. The layered vocals are effective and this is more in their wheelhouse than some of the more rock songs and is full of feeling. All of their albums are different to some extent, I guess this could be considered more mature, but I was not expecting some of the more classic rock radio moments. Still this is a great album that sounds amazing I'll give it a 9.5.
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