This Never Happened

All Else Failed attempts to capture the urgency of most "emo" or nu-metal bands with wailing vocals and bruising guitars. This is indicative on the opening "The Revisionist." While not as experimental as groups like the Dillinger Escape Plan, the quartet can keep a nice melody embedded in the song from time to time. This energy goes into overdrive during "Kinetic" with mixed results. Guitarists David Davies and Patrick Shannon trade off Metallica-like riffs as the song ebbs between hardcore and softer melodic moments. But generally, the album suffers from a style that is sensory overload more often than not. "Wishful Thinking" would be better as a two-minute rant rather than the nearly five-minute number it actually is. When the band delivers something more concise, songs such as "To Whom It May Concern" pack more punch. One aberration is the slow-building and deliberate pop melody underlying "Waterlogged," which could be a song Filter or At the Drive-In attempts. One of the better songs is the swaying wall of guitars behind "Centralia," with vocalist Luke Muir singing more than shrieking until the conclusion. Another highlight is the straightforward rock hues coloring "At Twenty-Seven" and also the crunchy "Simple Solution." The "emo" tone returns on the guitar-driven melody on "Departing Flights," which falls in line with blink-182 or Jimmy Eat World. ~ Jason MacNeil