I hate to beat a dead horse, as I’m sure most of you have read reviews of this rather high profile release already, but I’ll say it anyway-the side project featuring Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed and Kirk Windstein of Crowbar sounds like a mix of Hatebreed and Crowbar.

There. End of review.

Ok maybe not. Of course, the duo if joined by Steve Gibb of ex-Black Label Society (guitar), Matthew Brunson (bass), and Derek Kerswill of Seemless/Unearth (drums), but the main duo is where the primary musical influence lies.

About half the time, KOS is Crowbar styled, heaving, crawling Zuess produced sludge metal with Jasta shouting over it with Windstein contributing a few constipated grunts (opener “Hear This Prayer For Her”, “Grieve a Lifetime”, “Piece it All back Together”, “With Unspoken Words”). On the other half of the tracks there is an easily recognizable Jasta dominated hardcore style such as “Free The Fallen”, “Led Into Demise” , “Begging For the Truth”and “Lead The Ghosts Astray” which could be Hatebreed tracks, but those tracks are not nearly as effective as the more Crowbar sounding stuff (unless you are Hatebreed fanboy).

On the whole, the album isn’t terribly memorable, and not the monumental pairing some had hoped for, as only a handful of tracks like the aforementioned opener, somber Down/Pantera sounding ballad, “Screaming Into the Sky” and closer “Buried In Black” demand some form of recall, and that’s mainly of the strength of Windstein’s pained fret and vocal work. Personally, I would have preferred the whole album without Jasta’s vocals at all. But it is a stout effort that will have obvious appeal to two sets of crowds and I imagine, move a good amount of units with both.

Cool cover though.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments