#timeandtrauma

Track List: 1. Vanish 2. 11.24.11 3. Sorrow Sings 4. Lightless 5. Time and Trauma 6. Also Am I 7. Translator 8. Silencer (Featuring Adam Jackson) 9. Silvers 10. Swing the Noose 11. Gathering Bones (Featuring Kelly Acone) 12. Marrow (Featuring Stephanie Plate)

Now, this right here is a very difficult review for me. I have seen plastered all over the internet since this album dropped, how brilliant it is and how it is apparently  the bands “best album since 2004’s A Snow Capped Romance”. This band was one of the very first bands that infested the soundtrack to my teenage years; I’ve seen them play live around 6 times since I first discovered them, I own a physical copy of every album they’ve ever released and they still remain some of my prized possessions to this day. So as you can see I have very strong opinions on all of their material. If you don’t read the rest of the review at least understand my honest opinion here; its good, its very good indeed! But it’s no A Snow Capped Romance.

The main thing that I can really say about the album as a whole is whereas with those first 3 albums there was a certain vibe present; bouncy, energetic, lyrically maybe not the most uplifting of words sometimes depressing even with stuff like “At The End of August”  but it was still pretty explosive even though the tone was of a sad nature. This new stuff though was – after many hours of listening – pretty depressing plain and simple. The songs I actually like such as “11.24.11″, “Swing the Noose”, “Silencer”, “Vanish” which has a very distinguished heavy tone yet slow pace has less than an impressionable effect on me nor an infectious melody, very much the same can be said for the song “Sorrow Sings” although with a name like that what was I expecting? One of the saving graces here is “Lightless”, as soon as that track hit I was basted with a guitar tone I have grown so used to and those intertwining vocal lines from once upon a time brought teenage me much joy, it’s got those distinguishing qualities matched with those from the Rest Inside The Flames years, “Also am I” almost falls into that category as well but they’ve tampered with the formula a little too much.

It’s not a bad album don’t get me wrong! I could listen to it a fair few times especially whilst driving as it’s that sort of pace but it’s so far removed from the good ol’ days. However looking on it now that means that they can’t overkill that longstanding style because they’ve switched gears and changed things making something new. “Silencer”, “11.24.11” and “Swing The Noose” are songs that will be transferred into my favorite songs playlist and will damn well stay there! Just don’t get yourself into a mood that it’s not the same style you’ve possibly grown up with and give it a fair chance that’s all I can say.