Stabbing Westward are a band who's mixture of pulsing techno angst and aggressive alternative metal was met with a fair hand of success in the mid-90's, scoring them two gold albums. But in the past few years since their last effort, the face of music has drastically changed and it seems that this fact is not lost upon them, as the sound they have indulged themselves within here is more akin to the likes of say the Smashing Pumpkins, Filter or the Stone Temple Pilots, but without the quirky eccentricities, instead holding their footing upon a more focused, contemporary hard rock ground.

Band frontman Christopher Hall's near trademark silky croons are at full force here, smoothly holding notes with his melodic grace, sounding similar for the most part to a cross between NIN's Trent Reznor and Filter frontman Richard Patrick. Gone however, is the constant boiling aggression that used to fuel his work so passionately and in its place is sullen, perhaps even introspective tone that keeps the songs coasting forward at a simmering pace. Guitar playing is centered around harmony, using lightly distorted riffs and warm tones, combined with the occasional acoustic notes, to mold a heavily melodic web of winding sound that compliments the timid vocals with its mildly ambient, soporific nature. The bass parts laid down are fairly predictable and follow the guitars lead quite diligently, thickening up the at times thin sounding guitar chords, with humble grooves and roomy notes. Drum wise, the album is also quite nonchalant, using percussive patterns that are intelligently played with solid variation, though they do seem to lack any vivid color or stand out beats. Meanwhile, the final piece of the puzzle is the now scaled down usage of electronic instrumentation. In fact, A very small portion of their sound on this release is made up by electronic instruments and it seems as though the occasional light tinge of throbbing programming or introverted harmonics are the only form with which this technology takes shape.

Without question this album is a departure from the aggressive industrial undercurrent that literally pulsed throughout their previous works. There's little to no screams present and the use of any overbearing modern technology has been cut back to barely discernible levels. Instead, what's exhibited here is a solid modern rock effort, chockful of emotional songs that curiously experiment with a multitude of different guitar tones and polished song structures, that either reflect the group going through a period of change and self reflection, or a blatant attempt at going commercial to appeal to a broader audience. Yet though overall the songs contained cannot be faulted individually, as a whole they all seem to share the same tempo and tonal ranges, offering little diversity to keep the listeners attention. As such, this album is great for those times when you just want to sit back and relax, but it is most definitely not an album that will conjure up any intense feelings of the adrenal variety. In the end, what you have here is a moody and brooding melodic rock record, that has as much edge as it does musical solidarity. Sure, it may not be the most progressive album the band has put out to date, but it is without question an enjoyable piece of music for those days when a darker mood takes hold.