Flaw was a four piece nu-metal band from Lexington, Kentucky. They used to have five members, until one left for an on stage dilemma and the tensions were getting high. Soon after they recorded this CD, the band broke up, and vocalist went to Five.Bolt.Main, another nu-metal band and has done good work there. This CD is their sophomore effort, entitled "Endangered Species", was released May 5, 2004, and is very well a maturity for the band Flaw. Although their first CD was a success, I didn't know if this one would live up to the hype. As soon as I heard the first few singles off of this, I knew these guys have gotten better (it isn'’t the case now, because they have disbanded).
Flaw was (for Endangered Species):
Chris Volz - Vocals, Piano
Ryan Jurhs - Bass, vocals
Lance Arny - Guitars
Micah Havertape - Drums
The sound of this album is incredible, to say the least, the guitars are powerful, the vocals are heard well and sung EXTREMELY well. The bass is audible, as usual with Flaw. Chris really puts emotion into his songs and it shows, as
Wait For Me is a perfect example of a ballad by these guys, it is the ballad on the CD and they do it well. These guys also prove that they can rock, as we all listen to
You’ve Changed, you can tell he can somewhat rap, or do a Corey Taylor type thing, but it shows the better side of it. You can change from one song to another and notice that it is another song. The single,
Recognize gives us a soft guitar intro that is very soothing and the whole song follows in that pattern. It is the most mainstream song on here, and it shows.
Medicate, the first song on the CD, is one of my favorite, if not my favorite. It is a complete rock song, and shows some Disturbed influences in here.
Worlds Divide is where we start to get the viola, and is very well played. It starts to get repetitive near the end of that song, but it gets the point across. There are two solos on the album, and they are found in
All the Worst and
Final Cry. They are very well done and add to the effect of the song.
The lyrics are great, just as they always have been with Flaw. In songs like
Not Enough,
All the Worst and
Decide, the lyrics are great. In All the Worst, I think that it could be talking about the 9/11 attacks. If you listen to it carefully, you can notice that almost every word in that song relates to a war of some kind. It is kind of creepy if you ask me.
Quote:
"There's something about this place
It brings out all the worst
Our history's been disgraced
Who will destroy who first?"
|
These are the lyrics to the chorus of All the Worst, and in the context of the rest of the song, it matches with the 9/11 attacks very well. In
Decide, he gets his point across very well, it is just one of those songs that he does well.
My impression on this CD is that it was a huge step forward for Flaw, even though they ended up disbanding shortly after recording this. If you like Flaw, good nu-metal (Mudvayne) or hard rock in general, get this. It is well worth the money. I am going to give this a 4.5/5
Recommended Listens
Medicate
Recognize
Wait For Me
All The Worst
Decide
