1. Gnars Attacks - This is the perfect opening song for the album. It starts out with chants of "burned every bridge you ever built how do you live with yourself". This turns into a very heavy opening sequence of screams. Lead vocalist Devin Oliver then chimes in with his high pitched voice that I See Stars fans have come to know and love. This changes quickly into a breakdown which is followed by a sequence of trance like techno. From there, there are more poppy serenading clean vocals and then a heavy ending where unclean vocalist Zach Johnson screams over top of loud organ sounds. This song is a great teaser for the rest of the album
2. NZT48 - This song fades in with the vocals from the chorus which eventually change into about 20 seconds of screaming. From there, the song takes a poppy turn that will have people at any concert dancing. Going from very catchy choruses to heavy but still upbeat screaming, this song will most definitely be a fun one at any I See Stars concert. The biggest breakdown of the song comes about 2 and a half minutes in when Zach Johnson starts by speaking the lyric "some men just want to watch the world burn". He quickly changes this into his screaming voice where he repeats the lyric "watch the world burn" which is then followed by some powerful chugging guitar work. The song ends with chiming clean vocals and one more screaming part that transitions into about 20 seconds of guitar and electronics.
3. Digital Renegade - This song starts out with techno that transitions into Devin Oliver's clean vocals. This changes into screams then back to cleans then back to screams again. After this, there is an upbeat techno part underneath chiming clean vocals. After this, there is about a 20 second interlude which eventually turns into more clean vocals. The only real breakdown of the song comes at the end when there is a bass drop similar to that of Attack Attack! which is followed a heavy chanting scream of "this is reality". The song then fades out after about 10 more seconds of heavy guitar riffs.
4. Endless Sky - This is my favorite song on the album and is most definitely the heaviest. It starts out with a techno introduction very similar to that of Save The Cheerleader (3D) which quickly transitions into screams while the techno is still going in the background. Devin Oliver chimes in here and there with his poppy vocals and catchy choruses but these are always followed by very heavy screams over top of enchanting guitars. This song takes a huge turn with about a minute left when Danny Worsnop (lead singer of Asking Alexandria) joins in with very low screams which coincide perfectly with Zach Johnson's higher pitched screams. For the last 50 or so seconds of the song, Johnson and Worsnop go back and forth screaming while the same techno part from the beginning can be heard in the background.
5. Underneath Every Smile - This song starts out very quickly with poppy vocals from Devin Oliver which continue for the first 50 seconds of the song. The pace starts to slow after this when Zach Johnson joins in with lower screams. The poppy chorus then starts back up again which eventually transitions into more screaming and another very heavy bass drop breakdown that consists of screaming chants of "it's coming back around". This breakdown continues for about 30 seconds and eventually changes back into the catchy chorus. After this chorus, the song ends with more heavy guitar riffs, powerful drums and screaming chants of "it's coming back around".
6. Mystery Wall - This song begins with amazing guitar and drum work that turns into a heavy breakdown at the beginning of the song. It then becomes upbeat with another poppy chorus that turns into a rampage of screams by Zach Johnson. After this, the catchy chorus is again repeated and is followed by a break in the action and then a techno/guitar interlude. This turns into more screams while the techno continues in the background. The song then starts to slow down with clean vocals that sound as though they are almost being whispered into the microphone. Devin Oliver then shows off his amazing versatility as a clean vocalist with serenading vocals that end the song.
7. iBelieve - This is a very calming song that consists of no screams and somewhat reminds me of something you would hear from Breathe Carolina. The song has a very soft techno feel where Devin Oliver softens up his singing voice to fit the beat of the song. Not a lot goes on in this song and there is no screaming whatsoever, but that does not mean it is a bad song. The entire song displays that even though I See Stars went back to their heavy roots, they can still bust out a slower, calmer song here and there.
8. Summer Died In Connersville - This song fades in with very poppy guitar riffs and drum beats. This is followed by calming clean vocals that change into about 15 seconds of screaming. Then, Devin Oliver comes back in with more poppy, calming vocals. The guitar riffs then get heavier and Zach Johnson takes on an aspect of screaming where it seems like he is taking his aggression out on the microphone. This screaming eventually transitions into a techno part very similar to the one in We Know It's Real by Make Me Famous. Johnson then belts out a few lines of screams then the pace slows down for more high pitched clean vocals and one more poppy chorus that rounds out the song.
9. Electric Forest - This songs begins with a very techno feel and fast paced screams. After this, the song takes a much softer turn with clean vocals for about 20 seconds which are followed by a calming techno beat. After this, Devin Oliver comes back in with clean vocals that sound auto-tuned to fit the mood of the song. Cassadee Pope of the band Hey Monday then belts out wonderful sounding vocals. Pope and Oliver then take on a duet together for about 15 seconds in which they sound great together. For the next 30 or so seconds, the two alternate cleans and then Oliver takes over again with very powerful and meaningful vocals. This is followed by guitar riffs that are not seen very much in the song and Zach Johnson coming in once again with heavy fast paced screams which alternate with clean vocals to end the song.
10. Filth Friends Unite - This is the absolute perfect song to end the album on. I believe this song takes every single element from the other songs and ties them all together. It starts out with an unmistakable fist pumping techno beat which leads into upbeat Zach Johnson screams. This techno feel continues after this while being tied into very heavy guitar riffs and more heavy screams. This leads into a catchy chorus which is followed by another bass drop breakdown and more fast paced screams. Again, this is followed by the same catchy chorus and then more upbeat clean vocals. Johnson then continues with his rampage of usual screams while impressive drum and guitar work are going on behind him. This leads into the same techno beat from the beginning of the song and is followed by the same screaming verses as in the beginning but with much more intensity. Heavy guitar riffs follow and Johnson ends the song and album with one simple phrase: "lights out!"
I may be a little biased in my opinion of this album because I See Stars is one of my favorite bands. But I do believe that anyone that likes post hardcore/electrocore music will definitely be able to get into this album. It ties in all of the elements people have come to know and love from I See Stars, but just made these elements bigger, better and heavier than ever. When you hear the album, let me know what you think of it below! Do you think it is as good as I think or do you think it is complete crap? Comment below and tell me your thoughts. As for my opinion, I believe this is a huge step for I See Stars. They took a lot of criticism for softening up on there last album and instead of folding under the pressure, they stepped up to the plate and delivered a heavy, head-banging album. For this reason, I give the album [digital_renegade] a rating of 9.8 out of 10.
