When I first stuck this on, I was pleasantly surprised at how melodic the band had become. With an extremely melodic, commercial intro and heavier but equally-melodic “Walk Astray”, followed by the excellent “Requiem”, this album was shaping up to be the best surprise of 2006.Then “Final Communique” came on, and destroyed the spell. Harking back to their hardcore days, this is pure screaming, and pretty pained screaming, too. It doesn’t sound like it would be much fun to do. It’s a terrible song, really. “So Long… And Thanks For The Crutches” is another poor song – like a mix of Limp Bizkit and a bad Blindside tribute band… Very disappointing.
But, “The Misery Index” returns to the soaring, melodic musicality of the first two tracks, and I started to feel better with myself. Josh Latshaw’s vocals are perfect. Sounding like a less crooning Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage), with some elements of commercial, American Radio Rock – either Breaking Point or Vonray’s cleaner, more commercial singing, the album has great cross-over potential. Think The Calling, but with balls and conviction, and slightly less pop. Occasionally, a favourable comparison can be drawn with Blindside (especially with their latest single, "Fell In Love With The Game") The trend is continued on “(10) And Counting”, “Falling Out Theme”, “Empire”, and “With Cold Eyes”.
Overall, the band has grown as musicians, and their songwriting has improved tremendously, thanks to finding a home at Burning Hearts Records – the band have changed labels so many times, it’s not surprising that they always had an unsettled feel to their music.
Soaring, melodic, emotional, yet unique in many ways, this is the band many people should be listening to, instead of all the bandwagon-pap that’s spewing forth from some factory-like labels. It’s just a pity they fell flat on a couple of these songs.
But, “The Misery Index” returns to the soaring, melodic musicality of the first two tracks, and I started to feel better with myself. Josh Latshaw’s vocals are perfect. Sounding like a less crooning Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage), with some elements of commercial, American Radio Rock – either Breaking Point or Vonray’s cleaner, more commercial singing, the album has great cross-over potential. Think The Calling, but with balls and conviction, and slightly less pop. Occasionally, a favourable comparison can be drawn with Blindside (especially with their latest single, "Fell In Love With The Game") The trend is continued on “(10) And Counting”, “Falling Out Theme”, “Empire”, and “With Cold Eyes”.
Overall, the band has grown as musicians, and their songwriting has improved tremendously, thanks to finding a home at Burning Hearts Records – the band have changed labels so many times, it’s not surprising that they always had an unsettled feel to their music.
Soaring, melodic, emotional, yet unique in many ways, this is the band many people should be listening to, instead of all the bandwagon-pap that’s spewing forth from some factory-like labels. It’s just a pity they fell flat on a couple of these songs.
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