My only experience with these guys was through the "Punk Goes Pop" series where they covered a 21 Pilots song. They are a catchy emo-tinged pop rock band with about as much edge as Jimmy Eat World. You can hear how they might appeal to fans of Deftones on "Sliding Doors'. They begin to slide into nu-metal territory. "Heat Me Up" is poppier and obviously written with radio-ready hooks in mind. It floats into that more atmospheric pop side that more recent Deftones have been wandering in on the past few albums.
"Horses in a Dream" pushes the pop thing perhaps a step too far as it loses all the rock elements. "Morning Star" is more of an atmospheric interlude, than a free-standing song, so for the purpose of this review I am not counting it. "Why I Sleep" has more of that nu-metal groove to it. The soulful vocals steer in the same lane as the pop stylings of Sleep Token or Issues. "Fornix" is hooky enough to be effective. Not the best song on the album, but solid for what it is. There is a strong pop undercurrent to this that takes off some of its edges.
"What is Taken, Will Never Be Lost " is a straight-up pop ballad. There is a little more rocking to the last song, but it is also largely pop, much in the same way a band like Linkin Park is pop. I am fine with these guy's take on pop as they are not dressing up in masks or like popes trying to be scary, instead, they just look like the average kids you might see on any college campus. So there is truth in advertising, they are not claiming to be hard when they are not. I'll give this album a 9, it's good sugar fun with guitars.
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