Barrier - "Eventide"

By definition DIY, Barrier finally pull together a collection of songs to deem their LP. These kids from Chicago know how to produce their own sound and own their professional development. No label, no support, just bandcamp and the rest of the web. While "Dark Days" was one of the best indie releases I may have ever heard, "Eventide" has a slightly more mature sound and incorporates intros and outros and is more unified than their prior work. The riffs are blood red and the drums pummel like boulders down an avalanche. One thing to note is the vocal delivery and the absence of their founding frontman. Colin was so unique and had such a strong message. His writing was incredibly strong and that is something that is definitely missing on "Eventide." The screams are good, the patterns even better, but the writing is just meh at best and doesn't say much at all. Too many concepts already explored and beaten by peers in the scene. The outros for every other song are a bit redundant and don't really add much to the depth of the album so it's a few things that take away from this being close to excellence. While "Reunion" gives your headphones the most fun they've had since the last NIN release, Barrier's latest is definitely worthy of the purchase, but a bit lacking in the lyric department and not as memorable as the rest of their catalogue.