At their best, ambitious Houston unit Die Young echo Earth Crisis' chunky metalcore riffing on new album No Illusions, but they ultimately fall short over the course of the record's 16 middle-of-the-road tracks.
Die Young's Achilles heel is the pacing of the record. Despite some of the songs here clocking in at under a minute, the record could have been further focused with some paring down. The band attempts to change up the pace a few times here, but the songs are fumbled in their execution. The listless solo in the otherwise powerful "Automatons," the clunky interlude "Burnt Offering" and the power-metal-esque vocals shoehorned into "Mortal/Eternal" all feel like the band swinging for the fences and catching nothing but air.
Die Young succeed on tracks like "God's Promises" and "Fragile Thing," Daniel Albaugh sounding downright feral in the verses and the rest of the band firing on all cylinders with a storm of thrash-y Destroy the Machines-inspired guitar lines. Many of these powerful moments are soured, though, by the inconsistency delivered across the entire set, making the overall listen mediocre.
(Good Fight)Die Young's Achilles heel is the pacing of the record. Despite some of the songs here clocking in at under a minute, the record could have been further focused with some paring down. The band attempts to change up the pace a few times here, but the songs are fumbled in their execution. The listless solo in the otherwise powerful "Automatons," the clunky interlude "Burnt Offering" and the power-metal-esque vocals shoehorned into "Mortal/Eternal" all feel like the band swinging for the fences and catching nothing but air.
Die Young succeed on tracks like "God's Promises" and "Fragile Thing," Daniel Albaugh sounding downright feral in the verses and the rest of the band firing on all cylinders with a storm of thrash-y Destroy the Machines-inspired guitar lines. Many of these powerful moments are soured, though, by the inconsistency delivered across the entire set, making the overall listen mediocre.