Great album and, for me, marks a subtle change in KOL direction in a way that reminds me of REM and Monster to New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

Wovenwar returns mightily. My one criticism of the debut release was that many of the songs followed a similar structure and sound. Thankfully, Honor is Dead is a much more diverse and powerful collection of songs, drawing strength equally from each member’s skillset. They shortened things up a bit and settled for a smaller collection of better songs. Shane Blay takes it to the next level, delivering a harsher vocal onslaught on many songs (not unlike Periphery and the like), yet all the while retaining his more melodic qualities. There is plenty of guitar aggression – the patented leads and riffs endemic to these guys – but we never (thankfully) get run over with a wall of deafening noise for more than a few satisfying moments as the focus remains on the song and not impressing with crushing shred. Similarly, Mancino mixes up the footwork in a way that keeps things rhythmic, avoiding the clichéd machine gun double bass onslaught of sixteenths rampant in today’s metal scene. There is a mature vibe here that is decidedly metallic yet melodic all the same. Who was it that predicted the demise of metalcore a few years back?

The iPhone 7 offers some incremental upgrades over the 6S. Here are some of the things improved upon and the things to take note.