Having finished their debut album before even finishing high school, Ohio's Circles Over Sidelights are a band looking to make an impression. This young metalcore quintet have seemingly risen from out of nowhere with a monstrosity of an effort by the name of "...On Becoming A Person". Mixing the intensity of Darkest Hour with a hint of melody now common to many in the metalcore ranks, this band's raw prowess has somehow managed to overcome the tedious cliches such a style is burdened by.

"...On Becoming A Person" tears open with the unmitigated fury of "Duderstadt", a track that introduces the listener to the group with savage intensity. The pace continues with "Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Never", one of the album's longest outings, as the band methodically weave through segments of schizophrenic tech metal, thrashy hardcore and haunted pseudo-melody, seamlessly stitching the varied styles together with ease. As the album progresses it begins to lose the crushing metallic edge and slowly degenerates into a rather routine metalcore format resoundingly similar to early Poison The Well. Heightened avenues of brutality are juxtaposed with whispered melodies and subdued atmospherics, illuminating the band's moderate range; yet even the most vicious excerpt bares a striking resemblance to the aforementioned act, and this weakens Circles Over Sidelights general impact since the style has been replicated so often in the past few years.

For a band as relatively new as Circles Over Sidelights, this quintet are surprisingly adept at churning out slabs of balls-heavy hardcore-tinged metal, and the dizzying guitar abilities of duo John Berzanske and Eric Skufca is impressive at the very least. Though the group have a tendency to wear their influences etched on their sleeve, it is hard to merely pass over a group with this much raw potential. The songwriting on this debut is especially strong, and salvages what would have otherwise been a by-the-books affair by putting weight on the lyrical content. Considering that the vast majority of this album was written over a time period of five years (spanning from '98-'02), this isn't exactly a fresh record of material for the band ,even if it is for listeners, and it will be interesting to see where they go with newer material. As it stands Circles Over Sidelights aren't exactly running circles around their peers, but with "...On Becoming A Person" they've given ample reason to think it's nearing their time to graduate from the Ohio scene and begin converting fans nationwide.