Canadians
Every New Day spice up their predominantly emo and hardcore-styled songwriting with traces of heavy metal -- be it through the precision of their staccato riffing, or the sporadic appearance of guitar solos on a few of their featured songs on 2005's
Shadows Cast. And yet, at first, tracks like "Break the Mold" and "Our Hearts Bleed" don't exactly ignite the senses with their stores of invention or uniqueness, leaving it up to third number in, the fascinatingly textured "Chasing the Wind," to take care of both counts, and pave the way for increasingly compelling material thereafter. Among the surprises, there are the string sections featured in "Ashes Fill the Air" and "The Flames Inside," the mind-blowing start-stop precision of "Final Breath" and "Fight Amongst Myself," and pretty much every song contains at least one clever twist to keep things interesting. Add to that the trio's incredibly impressive performance chops as a unit, and, in essence, you have a sneak-up-on-you type of record that is likely to please fans of straight up emo, hardcore, and, if they're of the open-minded sort, metalheads, too. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia