8 Degrees step back up to the plate this time around ditching the once rapcore drenched sound and replacing it with melody and heavy grooves. Drawn out vocals, scraping guitars and thugish basslines beat down the door while the steady drums and skilled turntables trash the place. There's a few familiar sounds included here and there, but nothing that could be considered a ripoff, although the band could be compared a bit to an angrier SEV or Order By Chaos. Boiling with aggression there's vocals with tones reminiscent of groups like Staind, Tool, Vision Of Disorder and the Deftones, and a strong focus on verbal harmony that takes shape in the layered vocals and serene interludes, humming out lush emotion and contrasting with callused aggravated chants and harsh screams. One thing that is quite noticeable is the more enlightened verbal techniques this time around, instead of sounding like a basic rapcore band they show a more enraged chant flavor and this adds a bit of longevity to the band, even though the rap styled verses aren't the only plan of attack anymore. Guitars are crunchy and strut out brisk riffs with a few clean tinged fills now and then, but for the most part, their tuning and choice of distortion can make for somewhat of a thin sounding sonic side, slicks riffs and a buzzing sound do lash out when necessary though and give the music claws, but not very long ones. Bass is percussive and advances with muted patterns and mild funk progressions. Groove heavy, and yet not all out spastic its roughly struck notes and lower tones paint a thick black line of lowend for the music to hang off of. Drums crash out tightly tuned snare heavy beats and splashing cymbal work, sprawled out in between the weathered drum kit playing, and at times tribal sounding tom rolls. Persistently upbeat and ambitiously precise the rhythm is kept in check by the percussion and slapped around like a beating from an angry pimp. Turntables and some programming show up and scratch out clever samples with a restrained finesse and hip hop mannerisms, while 808 hits rear their head sparely pulsing out low rumbles. But there potency is a bit drained as they both seem to be a bit anemic and are overlapped throughout the material contained on this release. One thing the band has really bumped up is their song structures, no longer limited to a fast paced rapcore there is more depth, including eve tripped out Egyptian sounding melodies that would go hand in hand with an acid trip along with deeper lyrical content and a more solidified melodic standpoint. Fast paced while still being emotionally in touch enough to move the listeners, they've really stumbled upon something that shows promise. Unfortunately it still sounds slightly rough around the edges here and there and is a bit more loose than preferred, but not to a degree that is overly negative, as this also works in favor of the band keeping the music on a winding path. 8 Degrees have ventured into a style that is light years ahead of their previous release, boasting both hot and cold dynamics that burn with intensity and chill with passion, the music here could easily establish the band as a heavy contender, but it might take a bit more bulking up to get them to the weight class to fill those shoes fully.
(4 / 5)