With PRO-PAIN you can never go wrong. Those NYHC veterans have kept on recording and touring unceasingly for about 16 years and they have proven to me that they are totally unable to make a bad record.
The punk attitude, hardcore/thrashy riffing, political/social lyrics and of course Gary Menskil's growls are more or less the trademark of this fine outfit. As for what people think of them,I reckon we can roughly divide them into their devoted fans and those claiming that if you listen to any song of theirs is as if having listened to their whole discography.
Well, I'm sure as hell that this album will kick the asses especially of the latter. Although the aforementioned elements are still present, the band has greatly evolved and experimented with some new and refreshing music elements, which make the whole outcome really really interesting even to their non fans. Actually, this record is the most melodic they have made with more clean vocals than in any previous work, more keys, lots of melodic punk elements, some quite catchy choruses and (oh yes, get ready for a little shock) even classic heavy metal elements.
What is pretty remarkable is that they filter those elements in so smart a way that their character isn't altered even slightly and so both their fans as well as their accusers are going to be left stunned. Apart from this, I firmly believe that the songwriting here is by far the best and the richest they've ever achieved and whilst in their former recorded works I'd always opt for some favorite tracks, here I'm actually having a pretty hard time cause...
...I dig all the songs equally. Oh! An of course the production is as rough and perfect as always! One of a kind!