That whole “kitchen-sink” approach to metal, particularly that peculiar strain of emo, screamo metalcore that insisted on 101 riffs per second and demanded alternating screeched and clean vocals was EVERYWHERE in the early 00s. I remember slowly getting back into the swing of extreme music and being presented with bands like The Fall of Troy, Protest the Hero, Horse the Band (holy cow, remember Horse the Band?) and countless others but it was He Is Legend and a small album called I Am Hollywood that really stuck with me. Part of it was their unabashed love of a good lick and being unafraid to write songs that captured the spirit of 90s rock, but c’mon: part of it was also the astounding range and delivery of vocalist Schuylar Croom. So it pleases me to no end that 18 years since discovering them I get to dive into Endless Hallway, their seventh album and continuing affirmation that the band still has the juice to rip a room apart without sacrificing that special sauce that made them stand out from the crowd back in the day.

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