I abandoned this genre years ago, but for the sake of curiosity, I listened to the majority of this album. As a kid who had the Metallica logo on his book covers in middle school, I expect a certain amount of slowing down over the years, but this album is horrendous compared to what I fondly remember of their early years and efforts. I have to wonder how the band could sit and listen to this and give it the final approval to be released. Someone should've stepped in and said "This is absolute mainstream garbage. Are you sure you want to put this album out there under your name?" Does Kirk Hammett have the beginnings of arthritis in his left hand because these riffs are written for someone who can barely move their fingers. Hetfield puts forth the usual monotone efforts but overall, they hold up pretty well considering his age, but it'd be nice to see some vocal progression if they wanted to put out something this awful in the first place. As for Lars, nothing to hear here as usual. Just your standard issue tracks which are no better than support beats. "All sizzle, no steak" best sums up this weak album from the once kings of thrash metal. Fortunately, there are thousands of other bands that do what I'm looking for when I try to revert back to this genre. This band should be charged with a felony for charging what they do for tickets, especially if they're gonna play this monstrosity of a trash pile album. Even the most loyal of fans should be heading for the exits after hearing this collection of nonsense. ... See More

Giving this a 90 because each individual effort of this band is phenomenal and the final product is very well put together. Although I don't normally like symphonic elements, anyone familiar with the genre understands the amount of talent this band has had for a long time and will continue to have. They're literally one of the bands that has set the tone for deathcore trends and always manage to stay ahead of the pack. Ben Deurr is one of the best vocalists out there and the band behind him repeatedly knows exactly what to write to support the entire sound (even though they're leaning more towards the classic death metal sound now). Very well done and regardless of symphonic elements, this album will always be included in the playlists. This probably won't be my album of the year, but I can certainly understand why people love it. ... See More

This is one of the best releases I've heard in a while. So glad the vocalist fine tuned his sound and got rid of that screeching nonsense he had in early works. Overall, every artist in this band delivered top quality effort and you can hear it in every song. I don't hand out ratings of 100, but this is the highest 95 I've given. Guitars chug along nicely and drums set the pace for every change. The limited amount of computer generated sounds make it even better, but it has just the right amount of sound bytes and/or movie clips to stand out from the generic bands. This is just a pure deathcore piece of art and quite possibly an album of the year contender. Even if deathcore isn't your favorite, Spite can be a great band to use to help others transition from other genres. This "in your face" style of music is highly recommended. ... See More

Every so often, an album comes out that reorients your faith that some bands are willing to keep it simple and make great music. I'm definitely looking forward to more work from this band, but this album will have plenty of hours of listening pleasure until then. This album is just perfection when it comes to a strong and powerful presence that will make your body move whether you want it to or not. Highly recommend some good speakers to aid in the listening experience, but even without them, it should be enjoyed by many. Since I don't really enjoy a lot of the newer hybrid genres, this album will be a Top 5 of the year regardless of what may be released the rest of the year. Gutrectomy, Acranius, Downfall of Mankind, Xenotheory, and Kanine.

It's music and everyone likes what they like (especially when it comes to the multiple genres of metal), but this album really connected me to what I find appealing. I love the chugging riffs of the guitars and the drums do a great job of carrying the entire album through this powerful experience. I normally don't like to compare bands to one another, but Xenotheory keeps that classic slamming deathcore sound from the past alive and they do it well. It reminds me of older Within Destruction (especially the superior vocals), which is great. So glad to have a band like this putting out quality music. Only critique: vocals could use some better enunciation, but this album may not hit me as well as it did if they were different so "let it ride" as they say. Great album.