Review Summary: A "NuMetal" album that actually might be worth your time.
Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I was a pretty big fan of NuMetal, and I remember hearing these guys on the radio. The song I heard was "No Light" and I really liked what I heard. It was heavy yet had melodic verses and some rapping in the choruses. I went out and bought the album and was quite impressed with what I was hearing. It's true that most NuMetal isn't good, and I realize that nowadays as my tastes have changed. However there is some decent stuff out there worth listening to even today. I would say this is one of those albums.
Immediately after turning this album on you will notice it has high energy. The instruments are well played, and it seems the band was adept enough to not offend the ears in anyway. I am in fact surprised at the amount of talent these guys possess as a NuMetal band. The lead singer Jim Korthe has a very soothing voice when he decides to sing, and he also has a great shouting voice and both sound very natural for him. He also isn't half bad at his rapping. I know the idea of rapping will turn most people off right away, and admittedly I don't like rap in my metal normally. However here it didn't seem to bother me, and I think it actually fit in quite nicely. Especially since it is used at the right times, and not overused. I would say it sounds believable in this music as the main message of the music seems to be rough city life in Los Angeles. The lyrical content isn't the usual whiny crap most people would expect. Real life problems such as crime, death, and drugs are all talked about here and it's quite a step up from most music in the genre.
As far as the songs go most of them are pretty good, but there are a few filler songs sprinkled in. It seems like the first half of the CD really outshines the last half. The songs that really stand out for me are Redemption, No Light, and Blind My Eyes. Redemption seems to be about a man who wants to control a woman to do as he wants. No Light is of course probably their most recognized song and seems to cover a bleak outlook of living in a crime infested world. Blind My Eyes seems to be about people being blind to corrupt politicians wanting us to see what they want. If you are looking for a slower ballad type then "Breathe it Out" and "Lisa" should do the trick. Breathe it out is about stopping violence, and Lisa is a rather somber sounding song about Jim apparently losing a friend to death. The whole album is pretty good overall, but some songs such as Strung out and Paranoid can probably be skipped.
Unfortunately this is the only album these guys would ever release and that's a shame because they could have branched off and away from NuMetal and maybe did something better. They certainly had the talent to do so, but sadly this will never happen as lead singer Jim Korthe died in 2010. If you were a fan of NuMetal and want to take a look back to see what you missed check these guys out. It's worth a listen.
