Ice Nine Kills - Safe Is Just A Shadow

I am highly resistant to change, especially when I am completely in love with a certain style of music that a band has, and then they go in another direction. In my experience, this usually results in a pretty crappy album and a lot of hipsters chanting "The first album was better!!!11!11!!!1" That being said...Ice Nine Kills.
Ice Nine Kills have once again redirected their musical intentions and, as usual, do not disappoint. Their previous progressive/hardcore style was something that caught my attention the first time I heard their ep, The Burning. On Safe Is Just A Shadow, Ice Nine Kills have started over with a new lineup and a new direction. Their new style is slightly more predictable and typical of the hardcore scene these days, but it still throws listeners for a loop on occasion with reminders that they aren't just any screamo band who can chug like beasts and bend their knees like crabs during all nine breakdowns in each of their songs. Sorry, I went on a tangent there...Attack Attack! sucks.
Anyway, Ice Nine Kills are not your typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-breakdown-chorus-breakdown band. The few breakdowns that do exist on Safe Is Just A Shadow consist largely of complex polyrhythms that will trip up even the most hardened trendy-two-steppers. The guitarists in Ice Nine Kills showcase their multifaceted talent over and over on this album, and the drummer doesn't fail to impress with his knowledge of, and ability to play, some vary obscure and arhythmic passages, while still allowing them to fit with the music. The two vocalists in Ice Nine Kills perform well together, melding clean vocals with harsh screams and, I hate to say, brutal growls that combat each other as if both singers are trying to see who can cause the highest scale of destruction with just their voices.
Overall, I'd give Safe Is Just A Shadow an 86/100...definitely an album to add to your collection if you're into hardcore music, but its just missing a little something - the Ice Nine Kills signature "progressive weirdness" that makes them who they are.
In all honesty, if this album was released under a different band name, I would probably give it a 92/100...I just miss Ice Nine Kills.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?zhkzioiwzmd
Enjoy!
-John

EDIT: Yes, I know this wasn't a Throwback Thursday. I apologize. I will resume next week with Throwback Thursdays.