For those
of you unfamiliar with Nonpoint, what the hell are you waiting for? The best way to experience this band is live,
as their shows carry a certain electricity that is hard to rival. Because of the fact that the band is not a
huge, stadium tour act, a lot of their shows can be seen in smaller venues (and
by smaller I generally mean anything with less than 1500 seats). This is where I first saw the band, before I
even knew they existed. They were
opening for Sevendust and gave the headliner a run for their money in terms of
who stole the show (Sevendust was still incredible, but I fully underestimated
Nonpoint). Since that day I have been on
the bandwagon and never looked back.
There were a few releases recently (Vengeance
and Miracle) that were okay, but didn’t
have the brute force and consistency of previous albums. This is not solely my opinion either as many
longtime fans of the band as well as the band itself admits to this.
Nonpoint’s
newest, self-titled album gets back to what they do best though. It is an incredibly consistent heavy as shit
album that fans have been looking for since To
the Pain. It hits you in the mouth
with a wall of sound from the opening sequence of “Lights, Camera, Action” and
keeps rolling from there. The sound is
similar to Nonpoint albums of the past even though half of the band has moved
on to different projects and there is now an additional guitar player. This is a good thing though and the
additional musician just ups the heaviness.
The vocals
are still as strong as ever and are generally what set Nonpoint apart from many
other similar bands. The fact that vocalist
Elias Soriano can go from a soothing melody to a rage filled growl in two
seconds, while still maintaining the high level of energy that it takes to be
in front of an explosive group of musicians like the rest of the band,
definitely helps him, and Nonpoint in general, stand out from the pack of
pretenders that has threatened to envelope metal music over the last decade.
The best
part of this album is its consistency.
From the first to last song, there is no dud, no filler. This is what plagued Vengeance and Miracle, a
couple really good songs and then a lot of so-so music to fill out the
album. The early days of Nonpoint
included albums like Development and Statement that were all quality music
with no filler. Nonpoint was quickly
turning into a “singles band” without giving the longtime, devoted fans
anything more than fodder for a greatest hits compilation. Instead of continuing that trend, Nonpoint
has gone back to their roots, making albums full of music that their fans would
want to listen to. This is the perfect
album to throw in your car CD player and drive to, you don’t have to worry
about skipping tracks or taking it out halfway through for something else.
There are a
few extras in the Best Buy exclusive package that I do need to tout. First of all, the acoustic versions of two of
the songs on the disc are incredible
(anyone that has heard their acoustic version of “What a Day” can attest to the
fact that the band loses nothing upon its departure from plugged in
instruments), while the remix of “I said it” doesn’t do much for me as it
sounds a little too close to the original to be labeled anything vastly
different. The bonus DVD is good, not as
good as the Live and Kicking disc, as
it is shorter and contains less of the band’s earlier work, but it is by no
means a deterrent. Honestly, for $9.99
this is a great set to pick up for you or that metal-head in your life.
If you like
metal music at all, you need to do two things.
One, find the closest Nonpoint show and go there, you will not be
disappointed. Two, pick up their newest
album, it’s the next best thing to being down in the pit.
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