Reviewed by Peter John Willoughby

It doesn't seem too long ago that I was reviewing the debut by this band from North Carolina. Indeed, there are only 14 months between 'This World Is Not My Home' (January 2010) and 'The War Within Us' (March 2011). The main change here is that there is a new guitarist/clean vocalist in Andy Simmons, who replaced Justin Gage. The album was again recorded with Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, For Today) and shows increased brutality. It would be easy to define this simply as metalcore, but it also contains punishing double bass, balanced breakdowns, blast beats and heavy guitar grooves. After a brief intro of military marching beats, their new drummer (Nick Helvey) blasts through alongside crushingly heavy guitar clangs. Whilst there are clean vocals in the chorus, the title track mainly contains Kramer Lowe's deep growling "I'm tired of falling into guilt/There is a war within us/That must be stopped before it ends us now". The main lyrical content addresses the realities of life that people still have to face after coming to faith. It becomes harder when you realise that your problems do not simply disappear. This is best seen in "Hidden Eyes" with its reminder of past failures: "Look into the eyes of the outside/Trapped, closed in as time goes on/Looking through this clouded mind/Behind me is something I once lost and nothing I want returned". One of the best tracks here is "Seeker" which allows space for the clean vocals to soar alongside the harsh growling and includes time changes and a scorching guitar solo. There is also a short melodic song "The March" which features clear singing throughout. This album is not going to let you go quietly as "Rebuilt" contains deathcore growling and hardcore chugging, before turning melodic with chiming guitar and guest vocal harmonies by Justin Gage and Ashleigh Higginbotham "This will be the new beginning/This will be the end/We are the end/We are everlasting".

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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