God Forbid

Rarely does my opinion on a band go back and forth so many times, within the same damn song, as it does on this fifth full-length from New Jersey melodic thrashers God Forbid. Now, I love these guys and have played many an air-guitar riff to their tunes in the past. Ultimately, mainly due to so many bands aping this sound, a sort of cross-eyed boredom kicked in a couple albums back - this is the same career trajectory that Shadows Fall has followed. Listening to this disc, I hear highlights: "Empire of the Gun" and its awesome chorus; "The New Clear" has moments of '86 thrash brilliance in the guitar work; "Walk Alone" is a modern thrash epic; "War of Attrition" (nothing to do with Dying Fetus or Tank, but thanks for asking) thrashes fast and hard. The individual parts are still worthy of air-guitar shredding but the formula has worn thin so it's not adding up like it should. I don't know what to say, guys. You've mastered something to the point of excruciation.