Ethos, Pathos, Logos. Our humanities teachers drilled these three concepts into our brains, yet I'm sure most of us have completely forgotten their meanings. For those who'd appreciate a reminder, Misty Route states that "Ethos" encapsulates a person's values, morale, state of living, and behavioral characteristics. Think "ethics." The Greek alt-proggers named their second full-length album after this concept, hinting at a recond of profundity. Most alt-metal I've listened to only scrapes the iceberg of introspectivity, so I'm ready to observe the "Ethos" of Misty Route.

I'm going to give Lefteris Saatsakis the benefit of the doubt here and assume that English is his second, possibly third language. His lyrics that are deemed "introspective" aren't necessarily written in broken English, nor are they cryptic. They're just... more direct than I thought. In "Last Night's Dream," the speaker was "popping bottles with hoes." I visibly shook my head. In "Blind God," Lefteris wastes no time getting to the point: "Do you believe in God? - NO!" I don't know what to expect when such a punchy subgenre of metal attempts to get deep, but I do know that Misty Route needs some work on reaching said depths. Some songs are very cliché in topic, like breaking chains to fly, heading into the unknown, or running away from the past. Lefteris' cleans are smooth, and his heavier vocals, while not too harsh, are solid. He delivers these lines with obvious heart, but there's a slight disconnect for me.

"Ethos'" strength comes from the music. Together, Misty Route plays a technical, metallic progressive metal with plenty of room for melody and calm segments. The riffs are quite hypnotic -- they're repeated over and over again, putting you in a trance that's hard to headbang out of. "Hail," the opening track, is the best example of an oddly-timed groove whisking you away into the band's atmosphere. There are calmer songs ("The Corridor") that give you a break from Misty Route's constant jamming by introducing acoustic instruments and lighter vocals. The main player here is George. His metallic bass is chunky, deep, and essential in the group's sound; I adore it. The problem is, while Misty Route's playing is well-executed, it's nothing I've never heard before. Nothing in "Ethos" blew me away. I'm not saying the band's musicianship is poor by any means, but I've listened to a ton of progressive metal albums, and at the end of the day, "Ethos" is just another one of those albums.

Misty Route has brought a nice record here, but it lacks identity and the depth I was promised. I can make excuses all day long to save its score, but I need to put my genre bias aside.