Fueled By Ignorance's follow-up release to their well received debut "Tears", builds off the terrain previously covered and leads the band to a decidedly more vicious environment. Stuffed with hardcore reminiscent screams, ghostly melodics and in your face guitar work, the band have come back ready to leave a lasting impression. The beefier approach utilized this time around could possibly be summed up by taking hardcore styled vocals and putting them in an elaborate setup of nu metal flush with swaying melody that is punished by the guitar. Vocally sounding like a cross between Vision Of Disorder and Suicidal Tendencies, homicidal verses are screamed out with acidic guttural bellows essentially tearing out the listeners eardrums while uplifting melodies speak softly afterwards to calm them down with a sedated quality. Shifting back and forth through dynamics and even at times breaking out into unorthodox screams, the vocal aspect of this CD is indeed quite rich and for the most part pays off well. Guitars are clad with grating distortion and churn out crafty notes that seem to have roots in both hardcore and nu metal ground. The riffs laid down here can venture off into Korn-esque harmonics and just as easily flip over and incinerate with fiery straight forward power chords to plunge the listener forward like a rock in a slingshot. Bass however, is tuned slightly lower and careens through twisting riffs underneath the guitar work taking its own course and lending itself as support for the song structure with solid basslines and looping fret progressions. Drums are tightly tuned and bash out steady beats in behind the edgy high end, rattling with a tightly tuned snare and crisp cymbal work. Solid hits and rolls fortify and round out the tracks with a few double kick excursions to keep things full of flavor. Straying from repetition, an ambitious technique that involves a variety of the kit to shape a colorful percussive contribution is in place here, which ends up keeping a brisk pace. The band has taken things a step up this time around and although their new direction is a bit sloppier than their last effort, the intensity and heaviness of it have both been kicked up to new levels, and manage to compensate for the more direct style displayed here. Moody and full of emotion and harmony, the music capitalizes on a variety of feelings and gives the band the ability to gain momentum from a slow crawl to a mad dash rather quickly. But although sound in theory, this album still has a few things that hold it back, the biggest thing that hurts this disc is perhaps the production, it's very thin and relies heavily on the treble and although the music isn't one dimensional, it's shaped into that mold and could possibly make the listeners ears ring after repeated listens. Although this shouldn't be held against the band, it definitely does feel a bit shrill and detracts from the overall enjoyment. Another thing that tends to stick out is the outlandish vocals attempted on a few tracks. With the high pitched muted screams and wheezing like wails being belted out, they come off sounding more like an animal in pain rather than a gratifying release of aggression. But even with these negative factors in place the band still shines through, charming the listener with their honesty while they proudly show off their evolution and foreshadow as to where the music is headed. Fueled By Ignorance's name rings true throughout this release as the music included is by no means ignorant, filled with mauling vocal exorcism's and confrontational guitar work, this group is ready to get up close and personal with the listener and blast them back on their ass. It's not quite all in place just yet, but when this foursome does gain the experience and focus to upgrade to a cleaner, more refined fuel, there will be no limits to how far their hotrod of a musical engine will take them.
(4 / 5)