We Came As Romans – Tracing Back Roots

 

Band: We Came As Romans

Album: Tracing Back Roots

Record Label:  Nuclear Blast

Release Date: 26th July 2013

Reviewed By: Dan Peeke

For Fans of: Of Mice and Men, Like Moths to Flames

Standout Tracks: I Survive, Through the Darkest Dark and Brightest Bright, Tracing Back Roots

 

Tracing Back Roots marks We Came As Romans third full length album, and their turn into a more radio friendly, clean vocal, catchy, upbeat band. A band choice it seems.

The first track, Tracing Back Roots gets the album off to a fairly good start, it’s not as good as some of their older stuff, but it’s not bad. Fade Away is just a typical cleanish Metalcore song, nothing too good here. I Survive could easily be an Electronica song from the intro, before it transfers into one of the better songs on the album. A catchy hook and a good mixture between the clean and harsh vocals made an actually very listenable song.

 

Unfortunately that’s where the interest stops. The next songs are just 7 stereotypical attempts at being Bullet For My Valentine or Of Mice and Men, the stand out point within these 7 are how much potential track 6, Let Me Go had. The riff and intro all had the quality to make a good song, but they obviously just couldn’t get it working in the verses, mainly because of the frankly annoying voice of David Stevens, who is new to singing clean vocals in WCAR. Track 9, A Moment, is another song that’s annoying, but catchy. You don’t want to like it, but you kind of do.

 

Finally, the last track on the album, Through the Darkest Dark and Brightest Bright, is a song they should have slotted into the middle somewhere, it makes a last ditch attempt to save the album, and it does pretty well really, but doesn’t quite manage. It’s a good song though, it has the best harsh vocal out of the whole album despite the annoying electronic editing of… everything… in the song, but as the chorus states, this really is their song to remember, its very catchy and very well written and easily the best song. If only the whole album followed suit.

 

Overall, a disappointing album from a band who have the potential to be as good as they used to be. Stop David Stevens singing, bring back more harsh vocals and stop trying to be other bands, and they can get back to the good stuff.

 

SCORE – 6.5 out of 10

 

Track Listing:

1. Tracing Back Roots

2. Fade Away

3. I Survive

4. Ghosts

5. Present, Future and Past

6. Never Let Me Go

7. Hope

8. Tell Me Now

9. A Moment

10. I Am Free

11. Through the Darkest Dark and Brightest Bright