Tearing Down Your Blue Skies

Bostonians Diecast broke off a three-year silence in early 2005 with their third album, Tearing Down Your Blue Skies, and the backing from a new record label in metal superpower Century Media. They also unveiled a potent new weapon in rookie singer Paul Stoddard, whose impressive versatility sees him tackling everything from grunts to shouts, shrieks, and accomplished melodic singing with an effortless ease reminiscent of ex-Faith No More legend Mike Patton, at times. His instrumental teammates don't disappoint either, but it's important to note that their focus here is on songwriting economy and performance chops — not taking the music in a thousand different directions at once. In fact, Diecast's songs are almost unfailingly disciplined with early highlights such as "Fire Damage," "Torn from Within," and "Saviour" succeeding as much for their tight-fisted, start-stop rhythmic barrage (approaching Helmet-like precision), as for their smart, melodic hooks. However, they also enjoy a full, undoubtedly "heavy metal" production job on par with contemporary, post-hardcore, post-nu-metal American metal bands such as Shadows Fall, God Forbid, and especially Killswitch Engage. Sure, their formula can't help but get a little tired during the album's second half, but there's also not a single outright stinker to be found here. Which leaves one feeling like Diecast may be just a few degrees away from achieving the boiling point in the very near future.