LATE FOR NOTHING

A band bearing a name like this gang is pretty much challenging you NOT to throttle them, especially on a site like this. As much as I would be somewhat up for that challenge regarding their zany and surprisingly inventive 'It's All Happening' release, 'Late For Nothing' is just not my bag.

With a new singer in tow, the band also seems to be shedding a lot of the weird antics in favor of more straightforward though quite technical metalcore. Some may prefer that sort of thing, but to me, the less wacky it is, the less listenable it is concerning these sort of acts. The band can certainly play, and there are a few moments that caught me off guard, such as the latter half of the best track, "Firebees", which shifts into this strange funky, jazzy bit, and the guitar solo during "Carnage Asada" left me in awe...before I realized it was performed by Steve Vai in a guest appearance, which made more sense. Many of the other tunes don't really stand out much musically, as the skillful rhythm work, harmonics and scale runs gets a bit numbing after a spell.

Singer Courtney LaPlante's harsh barks possess that whiny metalcore vibe, and while commendable I suppose for those into that style, they irritate the hell out of me. Her clean singing is smooth and in sharp contrast to her howls, and tracks like "Mind The Gap" or "Inside Job" showcase it well enough, but I personally miss the unhinged 'Bjork-on-a-bender' insanity of prior vocalist Krysta Cameron, although to be fair to Courtney, her voice probably is better suited for the direction the band is heading towards.

It's not a direction I really care to follow at this point. It might get tougher as they mature in age and style not to regret their chosen band name, and they could use a basic marketing lesson or something to learn that a decent album cover might help to some extent in attracting potential new fans and possible sales. I'm not really a metalcore fan to begin with, and only enjoyed their debut for its deranged, bastardized version of that genre to almost mocking levels. Thus for this more clinical brand of rapid metalcore, with the exception of a couple of tunes and a couple of moments, I'm pretty much done with this album.