Killing the DreamI remember hearing some tracks from this NorCal outfit from their s/t full length on Rivalry Records and then again off their "I Rewrote It" EP but never got what all the hoopla was about. It wasn't bad, but it sure as hell didn't merit the pedestal that a lot of people put them on. This time around, not much has changed, they still rely on mid paced to slightly sped up riffing with emphasis on octaves and some use of picking patterns with breakdowns few and far between. The only song I can recall a breakdown in was, "We're All Dead Ends." Rather than the vocalist complimenting the music, it's vice versa. I would say that the front man really carries this band, the passion and urgency in his voice is fierce and unbridling, add in the sincere and passionate lyrics about shattered hearts and broken souls, he gets the job done. Once again, Kurt Ballou is the man behind the nobs, and thank god. He took the strengths of the band and let them shine. Especially in the case of vocalist Elijah, whose overpowering mic presence shines through and comes out on top of the overall mix. The guitars have a great tone to them, even though they don't utilize the palm mutes and crunch as much, it's there when needed, and the clarity is their for the octaves and more melodic sections. The bass once again sounds stellar, it just pounds and pulses its way through the track, never too high or low. The drums are nice and crisp with plenty of density for the bands sound. The layout was done on matte stock paper with red, black, and white colors. The visuals and concept design were done by the notorious Jacob Bannon, and it shows. In this case it's not so good though, it looks too typical to the majority of his other pieces. You have the skull image with shards exploding outward, you have the image of the girl on the front, not bad but sure as hell isn't anything new. Although the four page foldout that extends the front cover was a real nice touch. The lyrics are nice and legible, placed smack dead in the middle of the layout.
Rating: 2.9/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: We're All Dead Ends
Thesis: This is a real grey cd. The music was okay, the layout was okay, but nothing floored me. The score is more indicative of the vocalist and the production quality, but of which were stellar, but I'd rather listen to Horrorshow.