I've been a Today Is The Day fan for a while (not from the start obviously) but these guys are seriously cool. I've always enjoyed how they were more than your average core band incorporating noise rock into it something I'm a fan of. This is the bands ninth album with only "Stone Cold" Steve Austin being the only constant member throughout this.
After the string of albums I'd been listening to and reviewing I had been looking for something a bit more in my face that had some sort of brutality to it. This album certainly hit that spot as after the initial slow intro to the album on the track Expectations Exceed Reality, Steve Austin's distorted screams are krieg as fuck, with the loud quiet loud formula being used his softer vocals at times do sound maniacal and devil like making the overall sound of the song just great. Death Curse is a much less subtle song as it immediately comes at you with brutality and Austins distorted vocals screaming at you at most points in the song.
Pain Is A Warning starts with a stoner rock kind of beginning and reminds me of Doomriders stuff who I saw recently (review here) the song is very guitar rock sounding, but overall a heavy stoner rock track with Austin's strong screams. It is obvious at this point that I love the explosiveness of this album, its not to say I like this general tempo but the way the riffs sound just make this great. The riffs on Wheelin' and death Curse are particular tracks that really make the songs fast and energetic while the others seem to be lesser in this aspect. While not being fast and hard hitting they did allow a different sound to which Austin's vocals could shine, with the stoner/hard rock song The Devil's Blood being one that shows off a different style to the album.
The album with all its anger and in your face parts has space for a slow song or two we have Remember To Forget which shows some real emotion "Gone away, swept away, inside it hurts so bad/ outside a life ive had/locked away, swept away" the firm drum beat that follows it. While the track This IS You is a straight BAS track and a pretty decent one at that. Obviously I have made many references to the vocals on this album and thats because they really are great, Austin sure does know when to have his vocals distorted and not, plus when he decides to drop down to a slower song he hits the emotional notes spot on.
Overall I really like this album, it might have its limitaions at times on being a core album (I only like this genre so much) but the songs on here are great, the vocals are great, the different styles that are explored are done very well also. A well made album indeed!
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
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