Review Summary: In their fourth full-length, For Today do what they've already done, and remove all the interesting parts.
For Today have never been a group with the goal of turning heads with originality, that much is obvious. Their music has always been extremely formulaic metalcore, with very simplistic song structures and riddled with standard, run-of-the-mill breakdowns. But until now, it had worked out rather well for them; they were at least fun to listen to.
Ekklesia had some fairly interesting drumming,
Portraits showed off some great guitar work, and vocalist Mattie Montgomery proved himself one of the most apt vocalists in the genre on
Breaker.
But with their fourth full-length outing, For Today have lost any allure they might have had. Quite frankly,
Immortal is boring, uninspired, and gimmicky metalcore. The outstanding drum work is all but gone, the captivating guitar noodling has vanished, and Matty seldom departs from a boring mid-range scream. From beginning to end, the album absolutely reeks of mediocrity and laziness.
The album opens with your everyday intro-buildup song, which leads into the first single "Fearless." Almost right from the start, the bass drop driven breakdowns are thrown at you and with the exception of the interlude, they never really end. The songs all bleed together and become just an endless spree of boring chug-chug verses and uninspired breakdowns with painful Christ-fearing lyrics over-top of it all, with the very occasional interesting riff thrown in. Not even guest appearances from Sonny Sandoval and Jake Luhrs can save
Immortal from being anything less than a snooze fest.
There are, however, a few moments that shine through the breakdown-plagued mess. At about halfway through the track "Stand Defiant" there's about twenty seconds of great guitar riffing and interesting drum fills. It isn't long though before even that is cut short by yet another generic breakdown. Also of note is the song "Under God," which is by and far the standout track. While still pockmarked by those bastard brodowns, it features some of the good riffs reminiscent of
Portraits and some blood-curdling vocals from Tommy Green of Sleeping Giant.
In short,
Immortal is just another poorly executed, painfully generic metalcore album from a group that is destined to wallow in their own mediocrity.
