NONPOINT – The Return
- Posted on 22-09-2014
Nonpoint has made a healthy career straddling the lines of heavy metal, alternative metal and nu-groove nuances since the late 1990’s. "The Return" is their latest full length, and first for Metal Blade in Europe. Those who love quick hitting hooks, easy head bobbing riffs, and steady grooves along with soulful, kick ass vocals from Elias Soriano should have little trouble enjoying these 13 tracks. Instant pleasers include "Breaking Skin", Sevendust-ish "Forcing Hands" (love the spider quick guitar run before the verses), and introspective, part acoustic to electric oriented "Widow Maker".
I question the inclusion of the steamrolling "F – K’D" because a lot of the profanity has a little bit of that juvenile ‘South Park’-like shock value, especially towards the end of the song – even though Robb Rivera’s half-time groove drum parts should make many a pit oriented audience crazy. Elias has a way of rolling the right word combination in a semi-rap, semi heavy manner for "Know Myself" that gives the final song another rhythmic element to careen around the brain- the clean chorus capturing me for days on end.
Nothing complex, and nothing wrong with that. Nonpoint aim to hit hard and ask questions later – feeding your body with metal fuel. A lot of times bands with 8-10 albums under their belt struggle to keep that fire in the belly from their younger years. "The Return" does not waver in Nonpoint’s steadfast love for the genre- and should be in your collection if you love American groove metal.