Star-Crossed Wasteland review

     Hey readers, I'm just here putting up my review of In This Moment's release of their new album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland. Believe me, I felt like the beginning was a lot like a wasteland. It kicks off with The Gun Show. I didn't think they could write bad lyrics but wow, I'm proven wrong. I'm glad they pulled off one song without any clean vocals. That's admirable since they've never pulled that off. As far as riffs and stuff, it feels overproduced. The lead guitar is so buried underneath the rhythm that you're lucky if you hear anything. The bass is about as near-inaudible as back in Metallica's ...And Justice For All album. Come on, cowboy (That's literally a lyric from the song). The Blondie cover was enough, we didn't need a metalcore version that has more breakdowns than Devil Wears Prada.     Just Drive gives it that, "now this album is starting". Definitely has "Rock Band downloadable" written all over it. They basically jump back to a melodic metalcore sound and it sounds pretty nice, especially with the cool acoustic parts thrown in between. The lead guitar finally breathes. The bass is still near-inaudible.
     I really like The Promise. It reminds you a bit of The Dream album in terms of the balance of aggression and melody. In this song, there's male vocals assisting and he sounds pretty damn good. Adian Patrick from Otherwise reminds me of Donald Carpenter from Submersed/Eye Empire. There's some scream/sing crossovers between them as in some parts Maria will scream and he'll sing and in others he screams and Maria sings. He gives a refreshing touch to their music. No solo here but this new dynamic is pretty satisfying to me.
     Standing Alone is a cool song. Nice drum dynamics and Maria once again shows her prowess in switching between screaming and singing. The lead guitar lines begin to shimmer here. This will definitely be a crowd-pleaser at live shows. I think the only old song they have that this reminds me of at least is Lost At Sea from The Dream album, another ITM fave of mine.
     The title track's beginning gives me that Evanescence vibe in a cool way. The piano has a haunting touch to it and love how the bass finally begins to show itself a bit and the buildup of musical dynamics. I like the teamwork that stands out between the guitars and drums in this song.
     Blazin's intro almost reminds me of an intro from one of their old songs. It has a dirty vibe. Then they jet the adrenaline up with some pure metal. The mixdown on this song is just bad though. Guitar one top, drums underneath, vocals underneath drums and the bass? Is it even there? If you can look past that, you have a song reminiscent of Violet Skies from the Dream album, only more aggressive and with a nice guitar solo.
     The Road is yet another melodic metal song with more male backup vocals. I think the addition of male vocals in ITM's music gives it a refreshing touch. The guitar solo here really stands out as something different from past guitar solos. It's also great to see ITM get in touch with their progressive side here. The ending is pretty kickass.
     Iron Army sounds like something Killswitch Engage and In This Moment would've written together for a movie soundtrack. Maria's screaming really stands out good here. The guitars at times remind me of a motorcycle revving, which is pretty cool.
     The Last Cowboy sounds like something Disciple would've written sometime between their Scars Remain and Southern Hospitality albums. Its biggest strength here is melody. Maria goes for a spoken word approach on the verses. The closest we ever got to witnessing that was Whispers of October and Rabbit Hole from ITM's last two albums.
     World in Flames closes this album out The last time they wrote a ballad like this one was Dying Star and Into the Light. It has a pretty nice feel to it.
     One thing I'd like to note is how both the lead guitarist and the drummer have shown growth over time. If you wanna talk about musicianship, Star-Crossed Wasteland, in some of their songs, really set the standard. In terms of being an album, it feels a bit disjointed. The Gun Show is one of those reasons. It feels like they fell into the singles trap. Lyrically, The Dream is still the album to beat. The Gun Show and The Last Cowboy just left a bad taste in my ears. Put in a better way, at least it didn't suck like Bullet For My Valentine's The Fever. That album was worse than Metallica's Load and Reload combined.