Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

The third album from Richmond, Virginia-based three piece Comrades begins in typically wistful fashion with vocalist Laura McElroy sounding very much like late Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan before the guttural death metal voice of new drummer John Gaskill thunders in. The group follows this pattern for much of the album with intense introspection morphing into a screaming cacophony and back again and, although this works for the most part, this repeated approach does end up feeling a tad formulaic. Nonetheless, Comrades do a fine line in deep and meaningful numbers with the likes of the existential thumper "Rest" containing lines like "sleep is the brother of death" whilst the thought-provoking "This Ends With Me" suggests "only the broken can heal". The band's Christian faith is never far from the surface with the previously released single "Fault Lines" containing a redemptive message and, later on, the clever "No Past" reaches out to God to ask him what it's like seeing his children destroying each other. Full of great bass lines, thundering drums and melodic guitar parts, this is another quality if slightly predictable outing from this multi-layered group.

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