Despite being less of a love letter to the classic death metal these guys grew up on, the sophomore release from this supergroup is every bit as angry as their first album. Riffwise there are more hints of Jacob Bannon's main band Converge. His screams are less guttural than what we heard from him with "Shadow of Life". On the second song, the stomping riffs are catchy, but it feels more like metallic hard-core or a less spastic take on grind-core. "Clear Cutter" is the first death metal-tinged song. The lower accents of the vocals and thundering drums aid in steering it in this direction. It is admirable that they are playing music that is extremely unhinged and aggressive but it's still hooky.
Jacob's more punk bark appears on "Anti-Spirit Machine". I am sure the lyrics are interesting, but it might take a few listens before I can discern anything aside from the gang chant of the song's title. The best riff that gives this song its backbone has a more thrashing chug to it. " Reality in Retrograde" is more of a grind-core temper tantrum as they hurtle at you in blasting speed. "Past Tense" is death metal tempered with combat boots of a hard-core band. "Velvet Black" makes no attempt to conform to any genre, and is the best song so far thanks to Bannon, singing on the verses. An absolute slapperoni.
"Twenty Twenty Vision" rages full speed ahead. This is metal and hard-core in equal balance and what people should mean when they use to the term "metal-core". There is plenty of Slayer influence taking the wheel on this one. "Algorithm of Fear" has a slight wink in a Morbid Angel direction at times. An interesting factor to the sound of the album is the very raw and organic guitar sound that has more in common with Converge than any death metal band not named Entombed. "Empty Vessel' is another fine example of how melody can be used no matter how extreme you are dishing out your heaviness.
"Cause and Effect" is a chaotic collision of sounds. I need to have a few listens before I wrap my head around the full picture here. The lyrical tone of the album seems to be a bleak condemnation of society which I am glad to hear. "Deep End" is very violent in every respect. "Nature vs Nurture" has more of a death metal chug to it. It reminds me of the coolest parts of the Converge song 'My Great Devastator" expanded upon in another song. "Fatal Flaw" has more of a groove to it, aligning it more closely with death metal, despite Bannon's scowling and screaming. The title track closes the album with more of a Morbid Angel grind to the main riff driving what seems to be the verses. I will round this up to a 10 as the songs that did not click as solidly the first time will
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