MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE - Unbreakable

Band: MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE
Album: Unbreakable
Genre: Hardcore
Label: Solid State
Tracks:
1. Faithless
2. On Wings of Integrity
3. The Machinist
4. Headshot
5. Boris The Blade
6. Severance
7. Versus
8. Waves of Oppression
9. Circle The Sky
10. Choke

Maybe being popular on Myspace can pay off. Just look at MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE frontman Matthew Hastings [XMatthewX to his online friends] was an early adopter of the the now monster of a social forum site. He currently has over 100,000 friends [2x what his band has] and I know for a fact his popularity already paid off when he was employed to use similar sites in order to attract more users. It's just a pop culture thing I guess, that someone can get famous from simply using the internet, but in this case, I feel there has been a grave mistake made. "Unbreakable," the debut from Hasting's band [of which he is the only original member still remaining] was just released by Solid State Records and the result is a pretty mediocre album with a few golden linings.

The album comes with a black booklet [oh so metal] with the image of a blurry skull x-ray, not much to look at, but hey, since when was hardcore about your album art? The music is where it's at, or in this case, where you'd hope it was at. The album begins with, "Faithless," which comes to fruition through dual guitar riffs that sound uncannily similar to, "Waking The Fallen," era Avenged Sevenfold. The drums are pounding and then, the vocals come in, and just like that, all that was built up disappears to run-of-the mill hardcore. Hasting's vocals maintain almost the exact same pitch/tone the entire album and sound very hallow. In addition to vocal problems, the writing is quite generic and/or cheesy. For example, "Headshot," a track that is sure to be a live staple, is, and I'm not making this up, all about the game of Halo. So much for being taken seriously as an artist. The chorus to said song, if you were wondering is:

"I am the Master Chief
No one can mess with me
Saving the world from catastrophe
Unleashin' BXR's and killing sprees"

Aside from vocals and lyrics, the album is very tight sounding. the guitar riffs which first caught my attention are found scattered through every song and though at times the seem repetitive in their structure, they make for some decent entertainment. Songs like, "The Machinist," "Boris The Blade," and, "Versus," make for epic guitar work as well as drumming. The double bass is constant and pounding, but thanks to awesome production, it doesn't get boring.

Matthew Hastings may be a popular web surfer, but with the album MYCHILDREN MY BRIDE have produced, I don't think it will translate into cd sales. The album is a mix of solid instrumentation with middle of the road lyrics and sub-par vocals. I would offer a congratulations for a job well done to all the other members of the band, however, with the history of this band, by the time they read this, it may be an entire different set of musicians.

GRADE: 3/10