Sometimes I have to sit and wonder what bands are thinking when they ok their album covers. The cover of this album looks like the poster for some failed slasher flick. Now, since I got this one to review I had the luxury of ignoring this and getting straight to the music, but if someone saw this in a store I can’t imagine them saying “wow, what a cool album cover, I’ll check this band out.” All petty complaints aside, this is a solid album.

As you may have guessed from the aforementioned cover art, the album title, the band name, etc. this release generally has a dark feel to it. This feel is only furthered by the few sound bites thrown in here and there. The mix of hardcore and punk with a dash of metal generally keeps this one on the harsher side of the spectrum, but there is one exception to this rule. The third track, “Killing Me” is a straight up melodic punk song with little or no hints of what the rest of the album contains. This song caught me completely off guard, but do I like to see a band switch things up a bit. I think the band would do well to include more variety in future releases, as they’ve shown they can switch styles with ease.

Aside from that, this album maintains an almost NYHC vibe the whole way through. This band was honed its style since its inception in 1995, but there is still plenty of room for progression here. When a band is able to play multiple styles well they should take advantage of it and showcase it as often as possible. That being said, I still enjoy this album and hope to hear more from this band in the future. Fans of aggressive, dark, hardcore should take note, if you haven’t heard this band yet you might want to give them a listen.

Killing Me MP3