Abraid are an interesting new band who hail from the country heartland of Nashville, TN, but don't let their location fool you, as they have managed to craft together quite a ruthless blend of searing new metal riffs and explosive screams complimented with a touch of detached vocal melody, that shows a great deal of promise. Sounding like a mutant hybrid of Helmet, older Spineshank and perhaps Crossbreed, Abraid sketch out convulsing song structures and emotional landslides of vocals to sweep the listener away.

Band frontman Tom Burns belts out his words with tenacity, almost as though each utterance drains him, only to become fueled by a burst of adrenaline and fire off an enraged scream to further break the listener down. His delivery is quite melodic, yet also aggravated and there is a lot of vocal interplay with what sounds to be backup parts done by another band member, which thoroughly rounds out the spoken portion of this CD. Guitar riffs suggest hints of groups like Slipknot and Korn, but with cleaner tones, as they cleave out gritty distorted grinds and the occasional high pitched squeal. The basslines efficiently tighten up the tracks and use a playing style that is a bit passive when compared to the more antagonistic nature of the guitars, but this power struggle like contrast also helps to give the songs a more engulfing feel. The drums however, are played with a fair amount of restraint, leaving a lot of breathing room which allows the music to slow things down gracefully and surprisingly, there are even a few shades of electronic bass hits intelligently placed in with the percussion to make things more colorful.

The band have quite a few things going for them, with a dynamic style that is quite organic and although it switches back and forth through different emotions, it never seems to take on a contrived or pre-planned demeanor. They also don't fall victim to the new metal cliche of relying on the bass and drums to power the songs and instead shine a lot of the spotlight upon the vocals. The rhythmic portion of their material is interesting and the low electronic bass hits keep things enjoyably unpredictable. Still, as a whole the music is bit loose and the band somewhat lack a completely distinctive identity as there are some times when the riffs and song progressions can sound inherently similar to the likes of Slipknot and Korn, though in their favor, Abraid's music is a much more melodic and brooding. Sure each band member could stand some minor improvement in various area's to help tighten the screws, but aside from that, the main blueprints followed are quite impressive and with some more time to mature and evolve, these 5 should be more than able to successfully leave their audience bound with the thick rope they will eventually be able to twist together..