NewSelfHigh

...With Love And Scars

Written by: PP on 02/04/2008 16:43:05

You thought nu-metal was dead? Think again. Last couple of weeks have seen an increasing number of review submissions to us from the genre that was supposed to be buried with the death of Limp Bizkit. But all negative publicity of the genre aside, it wasn\'t all bad stuff that came out of it. Occasionally you\'d hear a band that just blew you away, Taproot, koRn, Ill Niño and the first Linkin Park record all being great examples. I was wondering about what happened to bands of this type as of late (cause franky, I kind of miss them), and now my questions have been answered. I present to you NewSelfHigh and their new debut album \"...With Love And Scars\", which, if nothing else, will take you on a trip down the memory lane to the change of the millennium.

On first impression, NewSelfHigh\'s sound lies somewhere between Taproot\'s melodic choruses and P.O.D\'s aggressive form of nu-metal, with a pinch of hard rock rhythms here and there. While that may sound weird on paper, it works brilliantly on record.

The album opener \"Self-Centered\" reminds us what else can be done with screamed vocals than emo/metalcore, and \"Thank You\" has a genuinely heartfelt chorus which thanks all the band\'s friends for the support. And the chorus is infectiously catchy, too. It\'s seldom you see such lyrical positivity on as heavy and dark record as \"...With Love And Scars\", but yet the trend continues throughout the record.

The strength of NewSelfHigh is their songwriting. Every song on the record is good, and when the band gets it just right as on \"TKO\", the end result is sheer awesomeness. The structure and riffs of the song may not be particularly technical or even innovative (you know, the pseudo-heavy riffs etc), but the execution is superb. The chorus hits you hard, the vocal variation from growled to screamed to clean to changes in tone grabs your attention instantly and has you singing along throughout the song.

The songs on \"...With Love And Scars\" are the kind that dominated the airwaves of US/UK rock radio stations about eight years ago - only better. Had this album been released four years ago it would\'ve been slammed because everyone still hated nu-metal, but today, eight years after the climax of the genre, the return of an album glorifying the golden times is a timely, welcomed change from the -core trends. This one will stay on my record player for long.

8

Download: Thank You, TKO, Self-Centered, Quicksand
For the fans of: Taproot, Nonpoint, P.O.D, Adema
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 14.12.2007
Astral Records / Dead Famous / Radar Music

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