It Dies Today

It Dies Today have been creeping their way towards melody-driven radio rock with each release, beginning as an iron-fisted mosh act, shifting to middle-tier metalcore with their debut full-length for Trustkill, and now pushing their way towards inevitable mainstream acceptance with Sirens. While still falling back on the occasional thrash-y gallop or superficially satisfying breakdown, this album’s strengths lie in the reliance upon the oldest marketing gimmick in the book: pop hooks, and lots of them. If the average metal-head or weepier hardcore type can overlook the fact that this music is essentially geared towards children, they will discover a veritable treasure trove of memorable refrains and choruses, often hammered into the listener’s skull upwards of three or four times a song. Think As I Lay Dying, with clean vocals in every song, and not as respectable — and anyone who’s been paying attention to the shifting critical tides as of late knows that is saying something. Wish the members of It Dies Today the best of luck, not that they really need it — hell, with these choruses, and those haircuts, it would be criminal to deprive them of the success that they are clearly dead set on achieving.