I have heard so much about the band Cast In Stone, and after having seen Point of Recognition live and heard the direction of their new material I was extremely excited to get my hands on this CD. Torn in Two was the only band I'd not really heard too much about but hey with a name like that it sounded cool to me. With great anticipation I put this CD in the player and was initially quite let down.
The production value of this CD seemed a lot lower than what Facedown Records usually puts out. Cast In Stone musically was a great hardcore act, but the vocals just take them apart in my opinion. Struggling old school vocals (although they are fast vocals) over top of music that is really wanting some sickened wails, for me it just doesn't come off right. These guys tear up however with the beginning of the first track reminding me of the Blamed sort of. These guys have ENERGY! The music just kicks your butt, if the vocals could keep up they'd be awesome. Cast In Stone rip through 4 tracks before yielding to Torn In Two, which are the four best tracks on this CD. The dueling vocalists really add a lot of depth to their vocal department. Torn In Two musically starts each track off pretty much ripping you in two, then as the vocals come in they tone it down, never really leaving their energy throughout the song. I really dig the lyrics to 'Without Honor' a song about pornography, they really are an "issue" band as they also have a song about drugs/alcohol as well. Finally are the last four tracks on the CD by Point Of Recognition, coming on the heels of their full length album Admiration of a Son these four songs are extremely thin sounding, these guys really need a second guitarist or their present guitarist needs to look at some thicker distortion, but something needs to be changed. Again with Point of Recognition we get the double vocalists and I just can't get enough of this effect, I love it. Lyrically these guys RULE, I loved their full length album and these tracks are good but not as spectacular as those.
Bottom line this is not a bad CD at all. It's actually got a lot of good music, but there are just a handful of elements that go against it, and my anticipations of Cast In Stone, and Point of Recognition may have been overly high causing me to be let down. I will admit that the more I listen to it I find myself really digging deep into the first 8 tracks, and the Torn In Two tracks really are worth checking out.
6/10
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #86Reviewed by Doug Van PeltAnyone who knows these bands needn't be told they're worth checking out. Cast In Stone powers out almost a groove metal approach to hardcore, Torn In Two throws in discordant guitar spurts a la Korn to accent their metalcore groove, and Point hammers away with some semi-shrill screaming vocals. All three bands are held back ever so slightly with a production that seems to have a sonic ceiling to…Similar sounding releases
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