That album starts out strong with ‘Swarm Mode’ that is a real punch in the face with that pounding metalcore sound mixed between the cheesy and catchy chorus that has been their trademark for as long that I know these guys. And this is one of the newer singles that has been released. ‘My Light’ released on May 5th, and they showed us which direction they were going to. And the cheesy sound aside, there is a big role for lead growler Christopher Kristensen, since he was chosen to pick up the pieces his predecessor left behind. Another catchy song that was the ultimate single I needed to get excited about their new album. Following this is the song ‘Outcome’ that is a little bit different. It has rap sections that are covered by freestyle karate stylist Samuel Ericsson. But that’s not the only surprise, the guys from Smash Into Pieces are also helping a hand on this one, making this a more experimental song, but it pays off. Not bad, not bad at all.

But that’s not the only collaboration on this album. For ‘Hurricane’ they’re working together with the 3 guys from The Day We Left Earth. Mixing the song up with some trance and pop elements with some rap elements again like on ‘Outcome.’ I love it when a band does something that you’re not expecting, thinking out of the box. We are going further with ‘Feeding Demons’ where they’re working together with Self Deception, a band that also works with the same producer that produces Smash Into Pieces so it stays in the same family. It stays on the same musical level, the cleaner pieces that are catchy as fuck that are mixed with the growling voice of Christopher. Next up is ‘Heartbeat Failing’ that is a much older single released on March 12th back in 2021. It’s one of the singles that made it for the album. There are much better singles that didn’t make it, but it was not up to me. I’m not saying ‘Heartbeat Failing’ is a bad one, but it stays again in that same sound of cheesiness. I love some cheesiness, but it doesn’t have to be cheesiness all the time. I would maybe change it up a bit from time to time, but that just my opinion.

Getting back on track with their latest single ‘Break My Fall’ and yes they are working again with Samuel Ericsson on this one. Again with some rap sections that he takes for his account, with a lot of references to Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. Punching further with ‘Save The Cheerleader’ that brings back a much brutal sound mixed with the cheesiness that we know from Dead By April but not too much. And finally we have reached my absolute favorite. A single released back in April called ‘Dreamlike’ they did everything right on this one. Just listen for yourself and just enjoy it. Next up is a love song called ‘Lonely Song’ that gives some piece of mind reaching the ending of this release. And then we see some old faces. The boys from The Day We Left Earth are back with another appearance on ‘Wasteland’ that also is released as a single. You can hear that this a song written by the guys of The Day We Left Earth. So it is much more of a song by The Day We Left Earth, with a guest appearance from Dead By April. I love that many appearances, it keeps things fresh. And yes, we get again have another released single called ‘Anything At All.’ You see that they worked hard, all the singles are released in the Covid period. They worked really hard with each single that impressed me in some way. Not always good, but not that bad either. And we have reached the end of this album with ‘Everest’ that again has some rap sections and with yet again another catchy chorus that sticks in your head for the next couple of days.

Dead By April really made some work of this new release, working on it for almost seven years. I really like it, I only have a problem with the originality of the whole process, it is much of the same trick that had been used. The growling sections, some catchy chorus that interacts with the cheesiness of it all. I love the appearances they have on this release also with the rap sections that are a refreshment, so after all a solid release of these guys. Job well done.

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