| | Full Review | Ratings (44) |
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| 3.0 good | c0nf1n3d | January 17th 24 |
The Word Alive have felt like 'The Word Dead' since 2018's "Violent Noise". Minimalistic songwriting surrounded both that record and 2020's "Monomania" - a record that was a financial disaster for the group and record company thanks to the record dropping RIGHT before March of that year when COVID struck the world. This delayed the supporting tour, etc. "Hard Reset" is clearly the beginning of a course correction for the band, and it's desperately needed after 2 duds of records (that admittedly I rated between 2 and 2.5, something I'd probably go even lower on nowadays). The Word Alive work best when they utilize the pure talent of the musicians within the group to carry impressive moments coupled with the vocalist's dynamic range. Records like "Deceiver" and "Dark Matter" really had a good groove going with both, and "Life Cycles" and "Real" were more experimental and crowd-pleasing. So, "Hard Reset" kind of tries to combine the ideas of the better records - there's crowd pleasers such as songs featuring Bad Omens, Escape the Fate, and From First to Last. There's impressive musicianship such as in the title track, 'Strange Love', and 'Nocturnal Future' (which, side note: 'Nocturnal Future' has easily one of the most exciting intros to a song perhaps ever, and suddenly after 30 seconds it sizzles to adequate). I believe that this record is indeed a hard reset for The Word Alive; it's enough proof that there's still quite a lot of life left within the band.
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| 2.5 average | ajcollins15 | August 29th 23 |
Hard reset indeed, was it the reset the band needed; no. I fell off the Word Alice bandwagon many years ago when I realized there were many better metalcore bands. However, the singles leading up to this new album gave me hope that maybe the band could nail a rebound. However, what they present on their newest album is as sloppy is many of their albums have come to be through the years.
Bump |
| 1.5 very poor | tommyhoover64 | August 25th 23 |
im not going to listen to this but im willing to bet zach does not shred here
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| 2.0 poor | branm25 | August 25th 23 |
Monomania was so bad that the very thought of this existing irritates me.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | klocu4 | February 9th 24 |
| 2.5 average | Trey STAFF | December 2nd 23 |
| 2.5 average | Jaxer | October 30th 23 |
| 2.5 average | TheGoni | September 14th 23 |
| 3.0 good | heck | September 6th 23 |
| 3.0 good | Halez | August 28th 23 |
| 3.0 good | Matty CONTRIBUTOR | August 27th 23 |
| 4.0 excellent | KManoc1 | August 26th 23 |
| 2.5 average | iGuter | August 25th 23 |
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