A concept album that takes you inside the thought process of a serial killer. No I am not revisiting the last Alice Cooper offering but delving into the world created by Cleveland based industrial/metalcore band Margin Of Error. While they may be able to give you the feel of what is going on in the mind of a lunatic at times, you will have to go back to the Alice Cooper disc to really get a dose of what it feels like to be inside the gray matter of the deranged. Margin of Error in their one dimensional way hints at a very good album with a novel approach but the lack of creativity throughout hampers your vision of what they are trying to bestow on you.
Sure the very mechanical/industrial metal sound gives you a Saw like feel but also like that series of movies they seem to run out of new ways to torture you with the music. There is a sameness to this disc that really gets to the point of wanting to shelve it before you get anywhere near the end. This would be a shame though as the best moments reside there. If there is a song that captures what they are trying to say it is the creepy "Innocent Victim" which assaults you just before the close of the disc.
The other detrimental feature to this band is the high pitched screaming of Travis Meyers which sounds like so many other hardcore wannabes. Originality goes out the window and you are left with a large dose of a mediocre screamer with a very limited range. For a few brief moments he will make you think that you are inside the brain of an insane person but in short order you will be begging to get out!
The idea behind this disc is cool. The execution is run of the mill and makes this one a snoozer for the most part. There is a sameness to most of the songs on here that I was bored with quickly and only had my attention brought back for the duration of the song mentioned above.
This might be your cup of tea but I would venture a bet that it is an album that would gather dust in the collection. There is nothing on here that makes me want to pull it out again. The band does show some potential musically though and I would be interested in hearing where they go from here. I would hope that it is in a direction that shows us something new instead of a rehash of a zillion other bands out there.
Track listing:
1. Time To Suffer
2. We Are The End
3. The Shape Of Hate
4. Your Life In Playback
5. The Struggle
6. What You Are About To Witness
7. Cut The Throat
8. The End Of Worth
9. Innocent Victim
10. Where I Reside