Bury Your Dead's eponymous fourth album introduced fans to a new lead singer (ex-
Cassius vocalist Myke Terry), as well as a much broader focus on melody. That's not to say that the Boston-based metalcore outfit's previous releases aimed squarely for the mosh pit, but it was a substantial enough change to draw comparisons to melodic moshers like
Avenged Sevenfold and
Sparta. Listeners put off by the new formula will likely be disappointed with It's Nothing Personal, a 12-track juggernaut that blends machine gun riffs and assorted sonic brutalities with big, hooky choruses dripping with traditional emo lyrics like "Sorrow has become my only friend again," but
BYD has both the chops and the vision to make it work. While some tracks shoot out of the ear as quickly as they went in, highlights like "Hurting Not Helping," "Broken Body," and "Swan Song" are bright enough to eclipse the occasional slab of mediocrity. Even "Without You," a typical sad sack, aggro-dude tale of heartbreak, rises above its clichéd subject matter, and when Terry audibly clears his throat before declaring, "Turn your head and run/this is the worst it's ever been" it's a thing of primal and dismal beauty. ~ James Christopher Monger