You might remember Beloved from a few years back. They were a hardcore/metal band on Solid State. Advent contains three members of Beloved, including their drummer/screamer. I always thought Beloved had a couple good songs, but were mostly mediocre. I expected Advent to be much the same, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

Advent plays a crushing brand of technical metallic hardcore much heavier than anything Beloved ever did and sound like they've been doing it for years...but I guess they have, considering Beloved and all. Joe Musten's vocals also sound much better and emotional than they did in Beloved. The guitar work is also very tight and well-written, as is the drums.

I won't lie -- the first time I listened to this CD, I thought it was decent but it took repeated listens to really pick up on everything the band was doing and really get into it. The first song, "Blackout" starts the album off awesome and then kicks straight into "Eulogy" and "Set Apart." This album really is just a non-stop kick to the face until track 8, "Three Seasons," which slows the album down a little with a violin interlude (yeah, kind of weird) but it's a nice change of pace.

Album closer "I Am" is also the best fit for an ending with Musten screaming "I see Armageddon" until the whole band fades to static. And if you wait long enough, you can hear a rerecording of "One Crushing Blow," which is another awesome track.

The lyrics are very well-written, also. Even if most songs revolve around Jesus, it's not "Our God is an awesome God" stuff. They are very passionate about Jesus, though, and on tracks like "Blackout," "Reflection," and "One Crushing Blow" they do stray from that a little, but even if they didn't it wouldn't bother me either way.

Overall, I really love this album; it's one of the best this year, really. The production is almost spot-on -- I just can't hear the bass in a lot of songs. It also tends to drag here and there, but it's overall very superb, especially for a debut. If you like hardcore or metal I'd definitely pick this one up!