From Ashes to New Puts Us Through An Unsatisfying Wringer

I like the rock/rap fusion...so long as Linkin Park carries the torch forward. Pennsylvania act From Ashes to New borrows liberally from the Linkin Park playbook. It's not encouraging that I can't exactly hear Matt Brandyberry's rapping clearly throughout "Through It All". Not only that, Matt leaps from rap to supercharged vocals at the chorus in this manner that jolts my eyes out of their sockets, and not in an amusing way. I would have preferred it had they toned down the melodrama a hair. As a marketing strategy the video does a fine job of projecting the overwrought boy/girl conflict. Not that I don't have anything nice to say about From Ashes To New. Tim D'onofrio puts himself in an unconscious zone to do his drumming and, the results are flat out staggering. He remembered to have fun and thoughtfully took us along for the ride. He's the only band member lifting himself up above average. Matt bounces too much psychologically. Branden "Boo" Kreider has no profound effect whatsoever, an afterthought if you will. You can't coast on what Linkin Park's done so much better than you. To make matters worse, From Ashes To New doesn't have a Chester Bennington wannabe to justify its existence with. Chris Musser isn't going to blow his nu metal peers off stage. He can sing but he can't electrify. Have you check the lyric sheet? That's where the drama gets poured out thicker than BBQ sauce on brisket. So let's see what tortured soul man musings he's sharing with us. First off you don't have a heart if you're not a little saddened by the first four lines. "There's not a day that passes by. The pain has not amassed inside. It's breaking me down to the ground. It's like I crashed and died." In other words it'll send your heart to the moon on gossamer wings...not! Moving right along we get a retread helping of the man tortured by the past that won't let him go free theme. For a follow up Matt acknowledges the woman who essentially helped make him the man he is today. She gave him a chance to change. She changed him forever. You can't hear the inner yawn but it's up in my head as plain as day. I'd say we've been victimized by a strong case of nu metal style over substance. The group as a unit uses blown up hyperactive licks to cover up the fact that they aren't saying anything too terribly profound. Matt's to be commended for giving props to the woman who rocked his perspective but, hasn't that also been a sentiment echoed by swarms of other artists? Matt's not putting a new spin on the topic and his band have only been around for a few years, not long enough to make their interpretation worth the price of admission. Matt rages on about how what his lover said stays in his head. Here's where the rap gets really dopey. "An unrelenting discontent, it torments me to no extent, entrenches me just like cement. Ladies and germs, cement actually has a featured role on somebody's lyric sheet. This also doubles as the most novel thing about "Through It All". Lyrically we've been through these themes before. "Through It All" delivers nothing of lasting consequence. Even as a nu metal unabashed romp, I'm left with an empty sensation in all the areas capable of conveying a response.