| Robb's harsh vocals seems particularly uninspired on this record, man's voice sounds tired. His cleans are alright. Riffage is alright, but it sounds like Machine Head going through the motions. This sounds exactly as the least inspired cuts from last album without any of the Choke on the Ashes of your Hates or Become the Firestorms. There's a bit of hope at the end of the album as both Bleeding Me Dry and Shards of Shattered Dreams are probably the best cuts in the album, the first one being a bit more daring and trying some dissonance and electronic elements while the second one is a traditional ball stromper groove cut but feeling way more energized than the rest of the album. Still, none of these reaches the highs of Of Kingdom and Crown and there's A LOT more filler here than there was in that album. |
