xDeathstarx – We Are The Threat

As much as I love this type of music, I must say, these bands are really becoming a dime a dozen. Now it’s nice that I have another band in my CD collection with strong convictions towards the music they love, but that’s one more to add to my ever-growing collection of modern hardcore/metal crossover bands. Don’t get me wrong, this album is pretty good, but I’ve heard this all before. The vocals are reminiscent of Embrace Today (Deathwish Records) and when I really come to think about, the whole band is fairly reminiscent of them. They play with a constant double kick beat pounding along in the background; honestly, the drummer must have shins of steel. The guitarists play exactly what you’d expect, fast paced riffs mixed with breakdowns and crowd moving throw-down parts. The bass, as usual, was completely inaudible to my untrained ear, which for the most part, usually focuses on the guitar and drums. Some of the songs seem to focus on Christian issues, so if you’re like me and religion doesn’t concern or interest you, you’ll most likely feel a similar indifference to said lyrics (let’s be serious here, I know Facedown is a Christian label and their bands reflect their beliefs for the most part, but at this point in time people’s beliefs don’t really flip-flop from belief to belief).

Even with its more obvious setbacks, I’m sure I will listen to this a decent amount in the near future. But be warned, this is one of those bands you have to be “in the mood” for. The songs are all fairly similar, so I doubt you’ll be able to pick an appropriate one out for every mood you feel throughout your average day. This record still seemed to take a fair amount of musicianship to produce though, so any band accomplished enough to have been signed to a label could have my respect (with a few exceptions of course). Hopefully I’m not the only one that feels that way. But, if your looking for a decent album I’d recommend checking these guys out, they might not stand out as much as I’d like, but they’re definitely a solid outfit.