This Southern California band’s debut full-length contains an almost indecent amount of infectious choruses.
This is not an attempt to be particularly brutal or complex, but rather a heart-on-sleeve collection of catchy anthems, friendly riffs and smooth, soaring vocals. The generic metalcore screams found in older tracks have now been largely replaced with cleaner vocals and more rhythmic guitarwork and it actually makes for a more distinctive sound. In fact, seething track Manipulate is the heaviest contribution to be found here. The easy, hooky melody of early track Black Cloud is a particularly enjoyable sign of things to come. Yes, it is a little repetitive and the lyrics are over-earnest and obvious, but it grips hard. As do Set Me Free, heart-tugging Ignite and the memorable Unbreakable. Frustratingly, lead single Skeletons, Ready To Change and Demons dial the emotion up too high and are so formulaic that they get tiring. Otherwise, the passionate vocals of Bryce Beckley, slick production of David Bendeth (Of Mice & Men) and frequently radio-worthy songwriting is hard to knock.
Via Roadrunner
