Like Moths To Flames

It's not a huge stretch to imagine what a band's debut full-length is going to sound like if it's released on Rise; the label has a unfortunate, if not always deserved, reputation for signing scene metalcore acts and turning them out like a factory. Rather than argue with the foreman, Columbus, OH's Like Moths To Flames go right ahead and exploit every current trend they can think of: good cop/bad cop barking, faux-djent guitar tones, poppy choruses, first-fret doom chugging and drums with more triggers than a military roadblock, all trained for three-minute bursts. It sounds like the result of a steamroller crushing a can of beige paint over the records of Woe Is Me, the Color Morale and Every Bridge Burned. The sound they've got might be the one they want, but there's nothing here that enables When We Don't Exist to rise above the rest of their labelmates, never mind the larger genre.