The team is partial to angular but driving beatdowns that are admirable in their brutally constant deliberation, but eventually tiring after six or seven songs. Also unfortunately, the overt drums and hooky bass continually steal the limelight as the guitars yearn for some raw blood, volume, and gristle. The strenuous timbre of the voice and the frequent battering from an over-the-top delivery also strain to find an adequate home in the mix. The music school-worthy chops are so beautifully contained and pristinely separated that what seems to be appropriate production at first ultimately becomes the downfall, as ass-kicking soul is lost in a powerhouse of flat-lining sameness. The band laid out its heart and guts in this collection of songs, but it would have benefited greatly from a rawer Steve Albini recording ethos and another ear to the rail—a point made all the more poignant as these gripes fell away during a recent gripping and faultless live performance. www.bylandorsea.net.