I can't say I know why this was re-released, as this North Carolina vegan straightedge metalcore band has been broken up for three years, and this disc wasn't really anything special when it first came out, but whatever. This reissue has been remixed and edited with ProTools, but it doesn't sound that much better than the original pressing. A little better? Sure. But apparently they still forgot that bass is an important element, as when remixing the material they left the big, bulging gap between the guitars and drums that the bass should fill. The all new layout looks a shitload better than the original pressing, which basically looked like crap. This time out the design is a bit more simplistic and tasteful, opting to use only blocks of color and texture, black and white band photos, and small, clean type. The photos are pretty good as well, even though some of them get a bit "emo", what with the guitarist laying on the floor, the singer looking like he's about to cry at times, etc. Lyrically this stuff isn't typical for the genre, but it is typically devoid of any content that I find interesting: "Snow starts to fall, My tears start to freeze, Nature brings forth her cold winter's breeze, My heart has been shunned, I fail to care, Nary are those whose dreams I do share..." Uhhh, yeah. The forced rhyming isn't the only problem with that verse, either. What I said about the music years back still stands: Metalcore "combining chugga breaks and semi-technical runs with some harmonies, etc. At least this isn't just another bunch of hardcore kids directly ripping off the melodic Swedish sound, though such influences do permeate a few riffs. The vocals are a cool mix of growling death metal styles, singing, speaking, and the usual midrange screams." It sounds more generic now than it did when it first came out, but that's because this band came up right at the start of the deluge of metalcore bands that ended up playing this style. So I won't fault them for that. They were just barely ahead of the curve on that one. I would've been very interested in hearing what this band could've come up with had they recorded a second album, but since that never happened... I can't honestly say that they left an impression on me.
[Tribunal]
Running time - 37:38, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: A Dead Soul Born, Violent Waves, Destiny of Culture]
Tribunal Records - http://www.tribunalrecords.net
