Five Pointe O

The trend of making radio-friendly hardcore, a skill that was mastered by Linkin Park, continues and Five Pointe O, a sextet out of Joliet, IL, have been passed the torch. The band wears their influences on their collective sleeves, with Faith No More deeply implanted in the keyboards of Casey Mejia, and Slayer and Cannibal Corpse interlocked within the vocals of Daniel Struble. The lyrics are disjointed and naïve ("Learn to give up fear/Then you'll learn to be a friend," from "The Infinity," or "Graphic thought, our tears are soaking together/Shall I see her into the beautiful?," from "Art of Cope"). This might be explained by the relative inexperience of the teenagers, but the deeper you get in the record, the more one can appreciate what the kids are trying to do. The last instrumental track, "Aspire, Inspire," shows more of the band's skill, particularly that of guitarists Sharon Grzelinski and Eric Wood, than the rest of the record, but they just haven't quite hit it their mark yet.