While having seen its fair share of delays, Calico System's latest offering for Eulogy has finally been released and will likely serve as one of the labels most competent outings of the year. Brandishing a resilient balance between aggressive screams and stirring emotional melodies, "They Live" sounds like a collective mish-mash of groups like Haste, Poison The Well and Beloved.

While the band do still spend quite a bit of time exploring their poppier emo side with a number of fragile croons and uplifting vocal interjections, there is also much metalcore-styled bite on display. But rather than take on the muscular macho side of the genre, the band often cloak themselves in wretched screams and bottom heavy chugging riffs. This combination, while admittedly lite in comparison to many of their peers, still works quite well and could easily make the group a gateway to metalcore for the pop-punk crowd.

Still, Calico System are by no means a bubblegum outfit, the sustained blasts of gnarled aggression here will attest to that. It's just that the main focus of their songwriting seems to be placed on the lighter melodies that they layer overtop, rather than the churning riffs that lay underneath. Of course, this style is also played out and while highly adept at what they do, the band don't exactly stand out or deliver anything outright memorable. But even so, there's a level of heart and talent invested into "They Live" that makes it well worth a listen or two.