Having spent much of the last few years being also-rans of the scene, it’s a curveball that Tracing Back Roots isn’t just the best WCAR to date but is also a damn fine record in its own right. Enlisting the production talents of John Feldmann to improve the band’s melody game tenfold (consequently, it’s also the best thing he’s produced in aeons), the choruses and clean singing breaks are of the highest calibre.
The ‘woah’s at the crescendo of the title track are majestic and uplifting, Hope is one of the best choruses of 2013 and Fade Away continues the much-welcome recent trend of recreating Linkin Park’s glory days. If there’s a criticism, it’s that there’s nothing here that you won’t have heard elsewhere. If you’re looking for innovation, it’s not here.
The overwhelmingly positive flipside is that this is a fun album of exhilarating, straight-up melodic rock with a slight nu metal bounce and one that’ll see WCAR shedding their reputation as just another dull scene band.
