Ok, I don’t know anything about this band other than seeing their name around for the last 30+ years - probably first heard of them when they did a split with Snapcase, and I didn’t ever listen to the BSF side. So with very little expectation here, I’m going in…
This sounds pretty dated, but this also really isn’t my kind of music, so I would never think it was timeless to begin with. It is really heavy “emotional” metalcore with mostly clean, melodic vocals, with a few songs with the same heavy, music but with screaming. To be fair it is catchy at times, but also feels overly earnest during the clean songs something, and too generic “pop metal” for the rest of it.
I started out with an open mind but by side two I was begging for this record to end. I almost wish I knew more about this band only so I could compare to their old shit, but then I catch myself almost wishing to know more about boysetsfire and punch myself in the face. This sounds stuck in the early 2000s Jade Tree records era, and I imagine the fanbase has heavily gaged ears, snakebite lip piercings, and impossibly tight jeans.