By: Carlos Aranibar
Rating: 6/11

The Monster In Us is a band of young cats with a reputation in the current post-punk music world, but ultimately need some fine-tuning in their vocals. With evident influences by current rock bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Linkin Park’s older material, their sound is carried by a double-bass drumbeat and chunky guitar sounds, yet the contrast with their vocals leaves something to be desired. While their musicianship is excellent, especially the drums, their sound doesn’t quite come together. With just a few tweaks and more time on stage and in the studio, they could emerge as another hot group from SoCal.

Their first song, “Jacob’s Ladder,” creeps up in a somber tone with a nice chord change highlighting some chant-like vocals. The guitar work is reminiscent of the softer side of System of a Down, but even Serj Tankian’s powerful voice could not have saved this song. Other tunes offer a nice change of pace with drum-n-bass riffs and meter play, the vocals showing improvement with effective backing and an occasional violent rant. “Black and White Movies,” however, is possibly their best number. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus comes to mind, with a light drum display. Chester Pennington’s influence is also obvious here, with some screaming that actually plays well into the overall sound.

Their last song, “Light Your Dark," starts out at a frantic pace but once again is tempered with vocals that seem out of place for this tempo, except when screaming is involved. This is definitely their most hardcore song, well-executed and exciting.

With numerous moments of hard-rock clarity, The Monster In Us can stand their ground with any of the acts that have been rocking ‘tweens in recent years. While the singer might have to sacrifice his voice box, it would serve them well to emphasize the screamo sound and let go of the softer tones.