[rating=4.00]
A Static Lullaby have returned with their self-titled album that makes hardcore and screamo holdings friendlier to a wider audience. Produced by Steve Evetts (The Cure, Senses Fail, Dillinger Escape Plan), the album follows last year’s Faso Latido and their debut disc from 2003 entitled And Don’t Forget To Breathe. The quintet made up of lead vocalist Joe Brown, guitarists Dan Arnold and John Death, bassist Dane Poppin and drummer Jarrod Alexander, display a Killswitch Engage meatiness and a Sevendust jack hammering might. A Static Lullaby incubated melodic with raw rage and composed an album that softens their lethalness without diluting their bite. It’s more pleasing on the listener and less stressful for the band.
The intermixing of singing and screamo vocals along heavy punk rock movements and hardcore amalgams keeps the tracks swerving at a crazed pace. The layers of instrument parts amass sonic explosions through tracks like "The Art Of Sharing Lovers" and "Static Slumber Party." The piling of vocal parts on "Eager Cannibals" and "Hang Em High" has a Dead Poetic density. A Static Lullaby’s hardcore staves have similarity to other bands indicative of the genre like Thursday, Lucerin Blue, and The Used, but ASL managed to keep their levels melodic with tracks like "Life In A Museum" and "Mechanical Heart," keeping hardcore’s severe registers aggressive without going into massive chaos and attack mode.
A Static Lullaby’s self titled album keeps hardcore/punk driven alloys worthwhile to listen to in a Korn type of way, and maintains the genre’s legitimacy as a force of inspiration.
