Jaime Gonzales – vocals
Tony Byron – guitar
Mikey Van Heel – bass
Joel Andersen – drums

review by Matthew "Newbreed99" Haumschild___

It’s kind of funny when you think about it. This band is from my hometown, a local band if you will and I had no idea they got signed. How bad is that? I have seen numerous fliers over the last couple of years for their shows. I’ve always wanted to go, but I have either forgot they were playing or was working. I am happy though that a local band got signed to probably my favorite record label.
 
            There are twenty-three tracks on this CD. 23 TRACKS! Could I emphasize that a little more? Granted, some of the tracks aren’t longer than a minute, matter of fact the average length of a song on this CD is about 2 minutes. I’ll cover with you three of the best songs so you know what to look for when and if you buy this CD.
 
            “Conflicted, conditioned”
            At first glance, they really remind me of another local band in town by the name of Martyr AD. In the beginning in this song there is a ton of guitar squealing. That would be the best way to describe it. It’s not feedback it sounds like a very sick sounding car. This song has mostly hard-core overtones. The guitars are going moderately fast but the drums sound slow, yet powerful. The singer does change up his vocal style towards the end of the song. Overall the song is a bit monotonous and it really doesn’t go anywhere.
 
            “Hangnail”
            Can someone say, "rip off"? The beginning guitar riff in this
song sounds nearly exactly like "Clenched Fist" by one of the greatest bands
ever Sepultura. Of course after the opening guitar lines the song is
fundamentally different. Actually the song starts to rock! The singing comes
in and the singer just sounds sick! The chorus is very straightforward.
Blast beats and chugging guitars in a rhythm that can make the kids go and
make themselves a pit. But again, the song doesn¹t go anywhere.

            “Last Dying Wish”
            I love the intro to this song, very original. There’s a lot of stops and panning of guitars in the intro. The vocals come in and they sound like all the other songs. If he’d change up his vocal style even just slightly it might keep ones attention. This is the type of song I can see people shouting to when they are angry.  During the middle of the song he does for once, change up his vocal style and sings in a melodic style ala Burton C. Bell. He sounds decent doing it too. After that the song totally changes and it just trails off into nothing. WTF?
 
            “Burdens Gift”
            Out of all the songs on this CD, this one has some late-night radio potential. It has a nice medium fast pace to it and a lot of good drumming too. The guitars change frequently and the lyrics and vocal style blend perfectly with this band. This song also has a nice beginning too. Another good thing, and I know I keep mentioning this. The song changes up towards the end and it sounds great then thirty seconds later, songs done.
 
            I can say this; the CD gets more interesting as it progresses. Unfortunately the whole CD is a bit droning and repetitive. Sure, between pretty much all the tracks are what I like to call “filler” tracks trying to make you believe that the CD is not being repetitive when in fact when it does get to another track it’s pretty much the same as the last song you just got done listening to. I’m sorry to say, there isn’t much for musicianship either except I thought the guitar squeals were pretty cool though. The CD would be great if you were angry all the time. But even for a hardcore CD this isn’t that great.
 

rating: 6,5/10

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