WiLt's latest outing, curiously titled, " The Herman Fibbs EP", compiles 5 new tracks with the 3 songs that previously showed up on their last demo and when listening to them side by side, its almost hard to believe its the same band. A much wider range and craftier approach is now at play, with the band paying more attention to song writing and structure than they ever have in the past. Aggressive and careening, the band mix up a hardcore/death metal influence with modern metal overtones ala Slikpnot and inject it into the unrestrained song structures of older Deftones, only to combine it with an often soulful, yet subdued melody akin to Nonpoint.

Vocally this release is generally gritty and full of aggravated barks and croons that occasionally erupt into death metal styled screams as band frontman J.P. belts out his parts, backed by the bellowing screams of bassist Urista. Variety is ensured with a few Deftones meets Nonpoint reminiscent wails and melodic tinged passages, but for the most part the bands two vocal contributors prefer to keep things charged and enraged. Guitar work is fairly modern metal inspired with a Korn reminiscent feel coating a few chunky / sludgy riffs here and there, while a solo and some more atmospheric Deftones-ish harmonies also spring to light, giving the band the necessary platform to diversify their craft. The bass lines however are loosely downtuned and played quite percussively, adding a thick feel that seems a bit out of place, often contributing more noise from the plucks of the strings rather than establishing a solidifying low-end to tie the songs together. The drums on the other hand, are a bit more animated and utilize a variety of off timed beats and sharp snare hits to infuse a unique timing into the foundation to the tracks as a whole.

As a whole the band are definitely beginning to find their own sound and discover their unique talents. The musicianship has greatly been improved since their last outing and the vocals have also been stepped up a notch, sounding much more rich and full bodied this time around. The group are also now showing off some stronger cognition as a unit and focusing their talents better, enabling them to write songs that feature a lot more depth. However, despite the fact that the caliber of their musicianship has been stepped up, they do still tend to fall victim to a few new metal cliches on occasion, with some of the growling breakdowns and riff driven buildups sounding unoriginal and unnecessary. The song writing is also noticeably disjointed and the material could be much more effective if they streamlined it a tad, paring down the number of interludes and breakdowns they choose to include, as the bulk of them seem to sound almost uncomfortable and overdone. Aside from that, the gifts which this quartet possess are truly starting to blossom underneath the surface and with a bit of sharpening and a strongly focused effort to concentrate more upon the interesting dynamic contrasts that they are able to come up with, rather than consistently send each track spiraling out of control with numerous different part changes, they will be more than able to create some beautifully punishing music in the years to come.