The new releases are not pouring out in the first few weeks of January, so I often find myself checking out albums I might not normally give a shot. This is the case regarding the 8th album from this California hardcore band. They are too straightforward in the Myspace era of hardcore but seem to be genuine in what they do. When they pour on the speed in places, I am less impressed, but I will always be down for a tough guy stomp. The sung vocals sprinkled in are pop punk so a weird twist in direction. This album is really well produced with samples and atmosphere breaking things up.
The interplay of the bad cop/ good cop use of vocals is the most predictable formula in this album. There is some hooky riffing to "Invisible Rain". The more staccato patterns groove on you. "Severd Forever" begins to find the formula wearing thin. They are good at what they are doing, but aside from the occasional head-banging groove what they are doing begins to bore me. If you were into hard-core during the height of the Myspace era then this is for you, but I was listening to more stuff along the lines of Converge then.
There is a little more melody going into "Keep Planting Flowers". I like the more yelled hardcore vocals when they are counterbalanced by the melodic guitars. This does lean into a more screamo dynamic. To this band's credit, the guitar playing has some thought put into it. "Eats Me Up" is a more powerful pounding broken up by the anthemic emo chorus. Another song that falls into the formula. "Who Needs Who" is a blasting under a minute that Nails does better. The breakdown parts feel like they are trying too hard. The last song is also on the more aggressive side, which is hard to take seriously after they have had all the Fallout Boy parts. I'll give this album an 8, there are some fun parts and some songs resonate with me more than others despite this not really being my thing when it comes to hard core though I might have liked it in the 90s .
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