Pointless screaming? Over-pronouncing vowels in a nasally emo
fashion? Check. Cheesy songs about war/the earth’s plight? Synths to
make the album sound trendy? Check. In short, the band’s second album
has everything you’d expect from a 2009 screamo album. While it sounds
contrived at times, that’s not to say these conventions don’t work.
“Godspeed,” an anti-war song set during the Vietnam War, is one of the
best moments. “Believe,” though, does not work at all. With lyrics like
“Don’t worry world/I feel your pain/And it’s a shame” you wonder if
singer Ronnie Winter would have made this album if he really felt the
world’s pain. Mandy Savoie
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2009.