Holy shit, I just checked this album out because I heard Courtney from Spiritbox is on it, but it opens with a blur of rapid-fire aggression that got my attention, and I normally don't like hardcore when it's blazing fast. But these guys got it right. The drummer fucking works overtime. They find more of the modern metal groove on the second song. This is the band's 8th album over the course of their 25-year career, so they don't rush things.
"Shedding Season" is where Courtney leans into her screamed vocals and gutturals, sometimes coming in lower than this band's vocalist. A few more electronic elements creep into the periphery. It locks into a more staccato groove than a breakdown. "Lost and Found" is when the high-energy, uptempo thing starts to wane. You can only go top that well so many times before dynamics flatline. "Underneath the Pressure" works better with catchier vocals; things go in a more metal core direction for the title track. Brendan Garrone of Incendiary joins them on "Yesterday's Gone," which at least finds them slowing into more ofa groove for the verses.
"Tunnel Vision" finds them finding a decent pace once the verse kicks in. This album becomes more about them finding their groove as the choruses start to take on a more MySpace pop-punk crossover feel. "Becoming" gets more metal, despite not being a Pantera cover. I like the dense groove it carries. "Heartland Elegy" is basically pumped pop-punk. It's catchy but not my thing. "Too Late" throws all the middle-of-the-road tropes in and stirs them with a decent riff, but it becomes background music, and the next thing I know the stream has me back at the first song again. I will give this album a 9 it impressed me even if it's momentum caused the songs to sound the same at time.
