With a furious and dense sound, Craig Mabbitt's side project
the Dead Rabbitts make their full-length debut on
Shapeshifter. The follow-up to the band's 2012 EP, Edge of Reality, the album finds the
Escape the Fate frontman delivering an album of maximalist metalcore, filling every conceivable space with monstrous guitars, ethereal synths, and his own soaring/savage vocals. With so much going on, it would be easy to get lost in the songs, but
the Dead Rabbitts keep the songwriting fairly direct, keeping each song moving forward to prevent the album from becoming a series of impossible musical mazes. If you're a fan who hoped that Mabbitt would someday return to the sound of
blessthefall and
the Word Alive,
Shapeshifter is the album you've been pining for. ~ Gregory Heaney