SHATTERED SUN

Texas-based sextet SHATTERED SUN has been around for about a decade and are just now releasing their debut full-length album, "Hope Within Hatred". Along the way, the band dropped four EPs and ran the ruts of personnel changes before being signed to the Breaking Bands, LLC management team, spearheaded by the legendary Jon Zazula of Megaforce Records and Chuck Billy of TESTAMENT.

Essentially, SHATTERED SUN is a fast-moving melodic proto band pushing tons of harmonies and layers atop the standard scripts of their form. Just when metalcore seemed dead on its feet, an album like this comes, going for broke by pushing all of the stereotypes to the next level. As far as ALL THAT REMAINS and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE have come, SHATTERED SUN goes one step further, pushing the limitations of this style not only with ripping speed, but a tremendous amount of musicality to thrust their messages of positivity way high.

"Victory or Death"'s strength is not necessarily its rapid verses, but more so the harmonious bridges and choruses that finds Daniel Trejo and Jessie Santos' guitars singing alongside the swarming vocals of Santos, Marcos Leal and Henry Garza. Gang shouts and breakdowns being the only predictable parts, "Victory or Death" moves along so fast those variables are secondary to the song's cunningness. The title track is the beneficiary of Henry Garza's nifty keyboard decorations and pumped-up choruses bounding from Robert Garza's double-kicks.

The serene guitars leading into "Reign Over Me" are a nice touch as SHATTERED SUN batters the track with speedy lofts and clomping breakdown marches. Once more, the choruses are the song's glue, but it's most exhilarating in the final moments with Henry Garza's rising keys giving "Reign Over Me" an enormous crescendo. "Waging War" may ring like a cliché with its opening thrashes decelerating and blasting again, but the guitars are so bloody good one nearly overlooks it, including the formulaic breakdowns and clean-hard vocal flurries that follow.

The dialed-back percussion and twelve string sophistications of "281" creates a rare bird ballad where the playing and the singing are stronger within a stripped facility. Lead vocalist Marcos Leal is terrific and "281" is a breath of fresh air to all the banging mania surrounding it—picked up and flung about instantly by the proto slams of "Awaken" afterwards. No doubt as a token of gratitude to Chuck Billy for his investment in the band, SHATTERED SUN wraps the album with a spot-on cover of TESTAMENT's "Return to Serenity".

Though every tune on "Hope Within Hatred" yields the same ol' same ol' metalcore trick inclusive of the formulaic breakdowns, gang shouts and bowling vocal swaps, the skill of these players is undeniable. There are so many parts heaved upon "Hope Within Hatred" it sometimes becomes a task to pay attention to them all. The songs move effectively between three to four minutes on average, if raining sensory overload at times. No matter, since the melodies are as vast as the playing. SHATTERED SUN was obviously looking to go big with this album and it's damned near larger than even six players can come up with.