Album Rating: 5.0

Man I disagree so hard with almost every statement in here

"they could be so much better if they let go of the ultra brutal metalcore act"

- Ultra brutal is a pretty ridiculous description, but it's funny I told my friend once I love how perfectly utilized the growls are. Just the exact appropriate amount, and his vocal range is so good it'd be a crime to drop them.

"and let the Devil EP's more melodic sound develop"

- This album has probably their most melodic(and best) songs to date? Kill the ache, let me leave, and how i fall apart are more melodic and/or done better than anything off the EP. Not only that but the overall level of atmosphere is far greater than anything else to date.



I love every song this band has released but:

- Their attempt at a more accessible sound on the EP had mixed results as it contained some of their least interesting song structures. My Disguise and Feel the Same are at the bottom tier of the echelon which brings the EP down heavily even though The Rope/Forever Marked are amazing.

- Place I feel safest is probably their best but this album is their most cohesive and they did about as good of a job as I've ever heard making every track on here feel like it's all an essential piece of the overall experience instead of just a collection of songs.



Side note - the way they carry over themes from album to album is so awesome. This album is an extension of 'Forever Marked' which touches on societies pursuit of individualism which dehumanizes others and leads to violence. Then of course 'Never There' is a follow up to 'The Place I Feel Safest' which is about the cyclical nature of loneliness being the source of your depression and depression being the source of your loneliness.

Album Rating: 3.5

poverty of self is where its fuckin at

@dream again disagreeeeeee so much haha

the EP has a much more reverby melodic feel to me and the song structures seem more natural to me.

this LP is really chuggy and polished and rigid feeling. thats the ultra brutal vibe i meant. even if songs on here are 'melodic' they sound sterile and on the 1st LP that worked but the toooones on the EP were so much better IMO

Album Rating: 5.0

His lows on poverty of self are so good

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah PoS is the go to track here for me

at first i hated how it was only heavy, but now i like that about it..

Album Rating: 3.5

Poverty of Self is the best track on here. Second Skin also rulz hard.

Album Rating: 4.0

Kill the Ache is my fave here. Lots of emotion in that one.

Album Rating: 5.0

Ya I've never understood the complaints about the album falling off in the second half when Origin, Second Skin and the closer are on it. Origin slaps so hard

Album Rating: 4.0

Agreed. The second half may be better than the first!

Green check mark

ok so i might have meant the first half was worse. when i said monsters, i may have meant origin lol. idk. track 6 or some shit with the synth intro fucks

i think one of this album's biggest issues is the lack of experimentation though. add a trumpet! or some other instruments man.

it's just a carbon copy of their debut, which while solid, is strange given how melodic and PROGRESSING the EP was for their sound.

idk, 1 dude's thots

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah the EP was stronger for sure, and the weird thing about that is when the EP was initially dropping its singles they stated that the point of that release was to experiment a bit more with their sound and figure out what they wanted to do with it moving forward. EP slapped, and then they kinda failed to take the best parts of it with them onto the next release. This album does have their best synth work though, imo, actually adds a shitload to some of these tracks. Flaws aside I still find this to be a very strong release overall.

thank you, someone else gets it lol! but yes, synth was good. they need to grow a bit i think after this, while good, as you said.

like if they release another record of chug chug i am angry metalcore it'll be 3 albums of that ish. consistent, but god DAMN i cant listen to 10-11 chuggy tracks anymore

Album Rating: 3.5

Split is a banger.

Album Rating: 3.5

the last 40 seconds or so of Let Me Leave goes so fucking hard. I wish that section lasted longer.

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah there's bits and pieces like that section and the first heavy first of Better Days that go stupid hard. But all the samey Rise Against-esque cleans can fuck off lol

Album Rating: 3.0

gave this another shot today and its a lot more boring than i remembered. whole back half of the album feels like the same song over and over again