THE WORD ALIVE | Monomania | Album Review

Many of the metalcore bands from the early 2010s have made radical soundshifts in order to evolve past their original scene, and it's something that has overtaken the genre. It's inevitable to say the least. The Word Alive is yet another example of a band that has changedover the years, proven with their latest album "Monomania". The band's recent output beginning with 2016's "Dark Matter" has relied more on melody and more conventional song structures. You could tell that they were heading in this direction with 2014's "Real", but it wasn't until the following albums "Dark Matter" and "Violent Noise" that the progression from metalcore breakdowns to a style that is easier to digest became permanent. "Monomania" is a continuation of this style. On top of that, the band considers this as their most personal album to date. In an interview, vocalist Telle Smith had some great words to say about how this album should give its listeners a clearer understanding of The Word Alive as a whole, stating "This is our purest work. This is everything we've been through in the last couple of years. It's the best conclusion of the last 10 years and the best opening to the next 10". I'll admit, I'm not nearly as keen on The Word Alive as I am other bands as I've never really been hooked on their music, with "Violent Noise" being the forefront example of this, but the more personal approach to the songs makes "Monomania" an exciting venture for The Word Alive as a band, and it leaves a lot of high expectations for the final product.

Four of this album's songs were released as singles before the album's announcement. "Burning Your World Down" was the first of these singles, meanwhile the title track, "No Way Out" and "Searching For Glory" came later on. The title track coincided with the announcement of the album, and it serves as a good baseline for what you're going to be delivered throughout a good majority of this album. The title track features electronic effects throughout and it doesn't detract from the guitars and Telle Smith's vocal delivery, making it a good balance between both styles. It is one of the better songs on the album, and that's really what a titular track should be in my opinion. "Burning Your World Down" is track nine on "Monomania", and carries more of that nu-metal infleunce prominent in "Dark Matter". I like the first half of the song a lot, as it focuses a lot on that excellent hook and overall has a structure that can really be enjoyed. The problem with this song is that the second verse concludes with Telle Smith screaming bloody murder in a song that really doesn't require that kind of delivery. Then, in the third act of the song, the electronic effects do take me out of it a bit. This track still does deliver the goods, but I don't think that "Burning Your World Down" isn't exactly devoid of any flaws even though it is one of this album's highlights. And that is a description I can apply to much of "Monomania" as a whole because aside from a few tracks, it's really just okay.

Sure, the rest of "Monomania" is straight forward with this blend of hard rock meets electronic rock, and The Word Alive isn't too bad at combining these styles. It isn't a Bring Me The Horizon or The Plot In You situation where it feels disoriented, and there's a lot more consistency than that. However, a different kind of consistency is the real problem with this album, and that is how many of these songs are structured. It's clear that The Word Alive are aiming for a more hook-centered project overall as you listen through the album, and while the hooks on these songs aren't bad or unlistenable in any way, things really start to blend together and get a little bit mediocre. The choruses of several tracks on this album feel similar to each other, evident in tracks such as "Comfort And Chaos", "I'm Sorry You're Sorry Now", or "Greatest Almost". Even the songs themselves blend in as most of them are the same tempo, are a bit samey in structure, and there's nothing really to differentiate them other than that these songs are in different keys. Then, there are tracks such as "Thank You" and the closing cut "Death Is Only The End If You Assume The Story Is About You" where Telle Smith's screamed vocal delivery gets all too overwhelming for me to say the least. And neither of these songs are that well written with "Thank You" basically being a passive aggressive "screw the haters" type song. The music is solid, and Erik Ron's production sounds great, but that's really all there is to this album as a collective whole.

"Monomania" does have some excellent tracks, though, and you can tell that they really did put in the effort to make this a much better album than it turned out to be. "Searching For Glory" is easily the best song on this album, having a very addictive guitar rhythm while Telle Smith gives an excellent performance. "Numb Love (Misery II)" may be marketed as a follow-up track to what was technically a B-side from "Violent Noise", but this is easily one of the highlights. The electronic solo really adds a lot to this song and the hook in the chorus works well. These songs, along with the title cut, "Burning Your World Down", and possibly even "KF", are the highlights on an album that isn't exactly something to write home about. The Word Alive advertised this album as their most personal album and the one they feel is their best. After listening to this album in full, I do agree that this is their best album, but they still need to climb up the mountain in order to create an album that fires on all cylinders. "Monomania" is solid for its attempts, but aside from a couple of choice songs, this is another example of The Word Alive not really drawing me in as a band. I'll still listen to future efforts by this band because I do think they can pull off an excellent album, but they haven't done that yet. Overall, "Monomania" has a few high points and some great production values, but overall the results are more middling than anything. Here's hoping that future albums by the Phoenix, Arizona band can be described with the word "fantastic".

RATING: 6/10

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