Reviewed by Greg Sammons

The grandiose opening music of "The Christening" certainly does set the listener up for a right royal album. And whilst the title track is a decent follow-up, it was never going to live up to the expectation mounted on it from the intro. Having said that, it's not a bad song, only really surpassed by "On Contentment". After earning their promotion from Strikefirst to Facedown Records on the back of a gruelling gig diary, the band have matched their progression musically too. Far outweighing anything they'd released as yet the metalcore merchants have made the most of the superior production values. The result is something far catchier that is bound to draw in a wider range of fans without shirking away from the brutality that got the earlier fans' attention. Lyrically they've also managed to maintain an overtly Christian message. They've also done a decent job of crowbarring in a bit of humour, best demonstrated by their clear desire to have their music used at the X-Games, with the song "Freakin' eXtreme". It's not a groundbreaking album but it's a move in the right direction for the band with some satisfying touches to add to the mix.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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