Let it be said from the beginning, I love this album!!!

After having listened to melodic death albums for some time, in order to be able to review them, this album really hit a dry spot with me.

For several months 30secondstomars (A Beautiful Lie) had spun in my CD player, and I had to have a break from exactly those songs for a while (even though I still like them), not to grow tired of them, but until Haste The Day came along, I had nothing to replace it with. Why I mention 30secondstomars? Because Haste The Day to me seems like 30STM gone thrashy – what a perfect mixture for me!

Reading that this was a band of Christians, had lowered my expectations beforehand, for what I was about to hear. The reason for that was, that it made me think of Stryper, one of the few “metal” bands I’ve known, who found it relevant to mention their beliefs connected with their music. Needless to say that didn’t make neither music nor lyrics any better, saving the world through half bad, over produced music and pompous lyrics is not something I believe in. However, Haste The Day surprised me: No corny, preaching lyrics; well produced, hammering tunes; and both melodic and aggressive screaming vocals – certainly not a Sunday school quire!

This is their third album, and I must admit, that before I got this one in the mail, I’d never heard about them before, but if I had, I’m not sure they would have caught my attention anyway, because checking some of their back catalogue didn’t thrill me as much as this album did. The big difference between the songs on 'Pressure the Hinges' and their previous material is namely the singer (and only partly the aggressiveness in the music) - I think their new singer is far better than the previous one (who quit the band for married life).

The CD I’ve received, is the extended version, containing three extra tracks, one or two of them with the former singer I think, and two of them demo’s, one of those the demo of the last track on the album “Chorus of Angels”. If you get the one without the extra tracks, don’t despair – the best of this album is certainly in the first 13 tracks.

If you’re into the above mentioned genres, or you’d like a good introduction to them, then the message about this album is clear: GO GET IT!

Recommended tracks: All of them – having to mention a few, it could be “Pressure the Hinges”, “Stitches” and “Chorus of Angels”.