Metal can be a hard genre to stand out in these days. People are always wanting something new, something different. This craving for something unusual certainly hit Metalcore/Nu-Metal band MY LAST MOMENTS. The trio's debut album "Invasive Species" documents their desires to find a unique sound in the Hard Rock world. Some of it shone brightly, other portions were a bit off putting. Read on for the highlights.

The first track is a sturdy instrumental. The second track "Drowning" and a later on song "Poison From a Rose" both have some major "Hybrid Theory"-era LINKIN PARK vibes with the static-y reverb and the gritty electronic keys. "Alive" was a bit all over the place with how the vocals flipped between the cleans and growls; it was a bit jarring at times. I could catch some attempt at sounding Metalcore though with the chuggy riffs paired with electronic melody. "Elements of Cyanide" and "Invasive Species" shifted the mood of the album so far with some groovy bass lines and some Grunge/Nu-Metal mixing going on. The solos both seemed to be early-2000s Nu-Metal style with some good melody you can bob your head to and plenty of grit in the verses.

"Warden Winter" brings in some heavy as hell sounds into the mix. The riffs are much more in your face, the low toned growls fit this darker heavier style nicely. This was the first song to really get my head banging. "Dream Eater" was kind of an odd ballad. There was the attempt to had some rhythmic, almost rap style vocals in but it didn't quite mesh how it was meant to. "Misty Night" is another Metalcore track done pretty well. The keys were cool and the riffs were more than headbang-worthy. There were some morsels of orchestration blended in too.  "Oceanic Hearts" has a completely different vibe than everything else on the album; it feels like a Pop Punk song with the backtrack and just surf's up style melody. It honestly didn't really fit with anything else on the album. "Remember Now" closes the album with another awkward ballad. The clean vocals aren't nearly as strong as the screamed ones and it kind of pulls from the overall feel of the song, not to mention the full album.

All and all, this album was all over the place sound-wise. The Metalcore and Nu-Metal styled tracks were pretty solid; the growled vocals were strong and they pay homage to bands like STARSET and LINKIN PARK quite nicely. Then, the more 'experimental' styles came in on other songs; some were tolerable, others were a convoluted mess of electronic melodies smashed together with riffs that just didn't mesh with anything else. I had to skip portions of a couple of songs because it was just too much going on and not enough blending together. While experimenting can be fun, it doesn't always pan out from the listener's perspective. Truthfully though, if MY LAST MOMENTS sticks to the Metalcore subgenre, there's a lot of potential for greatness there. I do hope this band continues to climb that limb on the massive tree of Metal and Hardcore music and see how far they can reach.