Reviewed by Jeremy Williams

Back undaunted by their new high profile, Pillar are pulling no punches - straight in with the challenge "are you ready to give up everything?" on the first song. It doesn't let up from there either, with crunching riffs and screamed lyrics that call for an all-out commitment as uncompromising as the music - "Somebody tell me how to save me from myself/'cause my worst enemy is staring back at me," Rob Beckley confesses on the brutal "Tragedy". The album slows down a little in places and goes experimentally pop-punk on "Sometimes", but it's on the heavy tracks that Pillar excel, letting rip without ever losing track of the melodies that keep them accessible. The press materials are at pains to point out that the band have played with P.O.D. and Audio Adrenaline. Whatever. It's not the healthy that need a doctor, it's the sick. This is a band that have proved they can rock with Slipknot and Drowning Pool, and that's where they belong.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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