The Word Alive ‘Monomania’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Fearless Records/Metalcore/Post-Hardcore/Alternative Metal
As a band, The Word Alive (TWA) have created a strong, powerful and rabid following over the last decade. This is partly down to TWA relentlessly touring and releasing albums, a never-ending cycle which has seen them grow from young Metalcore kids to post-hardcore stalwarts with dynamic tracks like ‘Red Cloud’ and ‘Why Am I Like This?’. This new decade has TWA showing no signs of slowing down as they release their sixth studio album ‘Monomania’.
TWA have reached a point in their career now where they can start to throw their weight around and because of this, ‘Monomania’ is produced by Erik Ron, the man behind the likes of Panic! At The Disco, Godsmack and Attila. This means that ‘Monomania’ has an extra smooth feel to it, this has an expensive polished sound which means ‘Monomania’ is exceptionally accessible, not just to fans of post-hardcore and Metalcore, but also alternative metal with fans of Falling In Reverse, We Came As Romans and Escape The Fate. Furthermore, ‘Monomania’ is a mature album, it shows the band growing up and expanding their sound, instead of just double bass breakdowns and staccato riffs with growling, TWA take in electronic synth soundscapes which melds well with an already established sound creating pop infused melodic hooks which would fit a wide demographic, that would even appeal to fans outside of the genre through tracks such as ‘K.F.’, ‘Thank You’ and ‘Searching For Glory’.
Although ‘Monomania’ has the chance to appeal to a wide demographic, there are those within the heavy metal genre which will find this repulsive and modern, far removed from the format of heavy metal. But, with ‘Monomania’, TWA do not need these people, as already proved, the band are on the up and ‘Monomania’ will prove to be a sound of accessible metal of the 2020’s.
Rating : 70/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
