Flaw - Endangered Species
Rating
RIYL
OnesidezeroBlindside
Chevelle
Lo-Pro
Label
Universal RepublicTracklist
1. Medicate2. Endangered Species
3. Recognize
4. Wait for Me
5. Many Faces
6. All the Worst
7. You've Changed
8. Turn the Tables
9. Worlds Divide
10. Decide
11. Final Cry
12. Not Enough
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Before I even got this disc, I wholeheartedly expected it to suck. It’s not because I dislike the band, or don’t think they can make a good disc, but because they’ve been off of the musical radar for a long while. They were supposedly working on a follow-up to their debut for quite a bit, but nothing seemed to come of it. When I finally heard that they were going to be releasing a new disc, I was very skeptical because of how long they’d been working on it. Usually when a disc is worked on, or put off, for such a long period of time, it will either suffer from having too many changes made or it wasn’t good enough to be published when it was initially completed. Thankfully, for the most part, I was wrong about my initial assumptions of this disc.
Instead of trying to change their sound or move it in a tangent direction to their debut, Flaw have instead bolstered their sound and fine-tuned it as much as they could. For this reason, if you enjoyed “Through the Eyes” at all, you should definitely pick this disc up as it is an improvement upon almost every facet when compared to their debut. Their melancholic and angst-ridden song structure still permeates the majority of this disc, which is a good thing because to me Flaw is one of the few metal bands that can pull of the angst-laden approach successfully. The combination of the slower paced, nu-metal-ish music style and moderately melodic vocals is the main approach that Flaw use on most of their songs. There are still punchy, aggressive, and screaming moments of intensity, but in comparison to their debut, these moments are fewer and further between. It could easily be said that they are mellowing simply for the sake of getting more exposure, but the more melodic moments of this cd don’t feel forced, but instead feel like a natural progression for the band. The only weak spot might be in the song “Wait for Me”—a full on ballad at track three, which feels way out of place. The song itself isn’t all that bad—it’s not the best ballad ever made either—but it would have felt more natural to be placed towards the end of the disc.
As it stands, throughout the course of the 50 minutes of this disc, Flaw manages to create a very fulfilling sophomore release. The flow between beautifully melodic moments, crunching, heavy moments, and everything in between feels very natural and mature, which is rare in this genre, as it seems that almost every nu-metal-ish band is nothing more than a gigantic cliché. Flaw may not tread any new ground here, but their refined take on the melodic nu-metal genre is quite refreshing.
--Rick Gebhardt
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