Review Summary: Rise falls short.
While they have never been one of the biggest bands on the scene, A Skylit Drive continues taking steps farther down from the pinnacle that was their 2008 release, 'Wires...and the Concept of Breathing.'
Overall, there is nothing absolutely terrible about this album. If anything, it is certainly an improvement from the last two atrocities that were Adelphia and Identity on Fire but there really wasn't much farther they could have fallen. Every song is bland, unoriginal, and seems to blend together. There isn't a single track that sticks out from the rest whether it is due to quality or just simple recognition.
The switch to Tragic Hero Records from Fearless Records certainly hasn't helped as you can randomly pick from countless other post-hardcore/metalcore bands and get something of, at the very least, similar quality. The main piece of the band that used to set them apart was the high pitched vocals of front man Michael 'Jag' Jagmin but those days are long gone. Ignoring the unfortunate growth in bands using lead singers that sound as though puberty is a far off distant dream, Jag's vocals have definitely declined over the years as they sound nothing but bland throughout this record. Drummer Cory La Quay and bassist Brian White still sound exactly the same on this album as they have on every other A Skylit Drive album leading up to this, but they were never anything special to begin with. The instrumentals still don't stand out but it seems the band has added quite a bit of electronic over production that just hurts 'Rise' even more.
This can't be made clear enough, this album is disgustingly typical. With the amount of quality albums that have been and will be released this year, don't bother wasting your time on this unless you truly can't find a reason to stay away.
