By Night A New Shape of Desperation

I'm confused. The CD sleeve says By Night. The press release says By Night. The CD itself even says By Night. But in nearly every track on A New Shape of Desperation, I keep waiting for the music to die down and the vocalist to scream "Black hearts now reign!" Sadly (or maybe not so sadly), the signature Unearth line doesn't make an appearance on By Night's latest release, but let's just say that if it did, it would fit pretty damn well. So maybe it's not fair to reduce this Swedish metalcore quintet down to a single band comparison, but I can't help it if the vocalist sounds nearly identical to Unearth frontman Trevor Phipps. Musically, although By Night is very likeminded in their song writing approach to Unearth, there are a couple aspects that provide some distinction, though not quite enough to shake the comparison altogether. A New Shape of Desperation has a much more raw sound to the recording, unlike the spotless production job on The Oncoming Storm (I never got around to picking up III, so TOS will be my comparison record of choice). This is a definite plus, as I have grown tired of the Adam Dutkiewicz-esque production phenomenon that is the current metalcore recording craze. By Night also tends to experiment a bit outside of the formulaic Unearth inspired structure, with the slower dissonant track "Dead Eyes See No Future," and the piano based closer "Time Is Running Out," serving as perfect examples of their willingness to draw on different musical influences. Still, I just don't think there are enough differences to really distance By Night's from that of Unearth. And quite frankly, the guitar work on A New Shape of Desperation is no match for the flawless guitar work on The Oncoming Storm. I realize that not every band in the metal community can release records dripping with originality, but it's simply hard to get into an album that's already been done before (and done better). Bottom Line: If I want to listen to Unearth, which as of late, tends to be a rarity anyway, I'm going to reach for The Oncoming Storm, not The New Shape of Desperation. This album has its perks, but not enough to really warrant any future listens from this humble reviewer.