This is where it gets dark and ominous.

I caught a whiff of The Word Alive years ago, when the metal-core scene was still building up. They sounded a lot like all the other bands of that genre.

They don't sound like that anymore. Like, whoa.

This is a throwback. This is new and it managed to revel in a lot of the darker, heavier stuff from the 90's. It's got some elements of Korn, Deftones, Tool and maybe even a little NIN. I'm not going to say they're direct descendants, but they're in the same family. I'm not sure they occupy the same space as metal-core anymore, as they're a bit slower and more composed than a lot of metal-core bands these days, but the genre has grown up a bit.

I'll throw an older song on the bottom of the blog, so you can see their progression. They've got a mix of singing and screaming that has become more pronounced and complimentary as their careers have grown.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to hear the rest of their new album.

More From WRRV-WRRB