So what do you get here? For less then 30 minutes a sonic pounding that is slickly produced and deftly delivered.

However, despite the professional delivery of each track on Embrace and the impressive weight bought forth by the meaty production, there’s a spark missing that’s not immediately easy to pinpoint. The first detraction, at least from a personal perspective is the reduction of vocalists. I love bands that have more than one vocalist (take Path of Resistance, TRC, Nueva Etica, Red Sky, Apathemy, Despised Icon, Out for the Count could go on forever) it adds more texture to the music and especially in hardcore it adds a further dimension live together with on record.

Another factor is the injection of metal. No bad thing at all, but it’s diluted the rawness and energy that pervaded predecessor Moment of Truth. Certainly the band sound slick and crushingly heavy, wielding a Pantera like swagger and groove to their compositions but losing that feverish energy and replacing it with this clinical almost mechanical feel detracts more then it compliments.

The final factor is that the bar has been significantly raised in heavy hardcore, there are no so many bands of high quality in circulation worldwide that you have to really push your boundaries in order to compete. Given that Moment of Truth was such a strong debut, I expected Thick as Blood to make that push to show that they could go toe to toe with other heavyweights worldwide.

In the end though Embrace is far from a disaster, it’s a solid, stoic album full of good moments that will get devotees punching the walls until they crumble and singing along till their lungs bleed but it could have been so much, much more.

Where most bands in this space use death and thrash metal devices to create a sense of heaviness missing in traditional hardcore, Arma Angelus’ thick, angular attack comes from a rock and roll sense of composition that’s every bit as heavy as their metal-infused counterparts. True, elements of Where Sleeplessness is Rest from Nightmares do delve into death metal territory (vocals, tuning), the majority of Arma Angelus’ material pummels to the tune of catchy, head-bashing song structure.

The album begins with ‘An Anthem for those without Breath and Heart,’ a single line mantra that effectively states, ‘Breathe their control. Fuck their control.’ Despite its length (1:20), the ugly, steamroller-heavy riffs recall Submit-era Pitch Shifter and Soul of a New Machine-era Fear Factory. However, Arma Angelus are by no means industrial. ‘We are the Pale Horse,’ like most of the other material on Where Sleeplessness is Rest from Nightmares, is quicker, less claustrophobic but still every bit as deadly. Using an infectious melodic lick to draw you in, ‘We are the” is like a hungry wolf watching a tethered goat. The strike is sudden, aggressive and unexpected. ‘For the Expatriates of Human Civilization’ is an angry rover when not in full attack mode. The song’s ultra-heavy chugging is spliced with a smart groove that’s in the same league as Cave In’s Until Your Heart Stops with a bombastic ending as explosive as Pitch Shifter’s ‘Tendrill.’ ‘To Feel No More Bitterness Forever’ and ‘Misanthrope 2.0’ execute a simple three-to-four riff formula in order to succumb and destroy their prey ‘ one is faster (‘To Feel No More Bitterness Forever’) than the other (‘Misanthrope 2.0’), but that doesn’t stop Arma Angelus from ripping your heart out and holding it to the sky like a deranged warrior.

The album’s two most interesting cuts are the last two. ‘Cold Pillows and Warm Blades’ has a spacey intro for Failure fans and a stuttered mid-section full of Sabbath’s blackened blues while ‘I’m Every Broken Man’s’ reflective opening could be a Country Western take on The Cancer Conspiracy. On the latter track, Arma Angelus riveting rock construction comes out in full force and even in its simplicity whips you around before it slays.

On the whole, Arma Angelus are very much an entity that has the capability of widespread success, but if I were to complain briefly it’s vocalist Peter Wentz’s hardcore signature shouts (verses growls, screams) seem unwelcome in the material, a hanger-on from the old days of the genre. Otherwise, Where Sleeplessness is Rest from Nightmares is a stellar album that’s every bit as abrasive, unexpected and stylish as some of those other bands I don’t need to mention.

Blood in the Ink, their Eulogy debut, is 100 percent tough-guy, thugcore, replete with breakaway staccato runs, finger-pointing shouts, simplistic riffing and plenty of attitude. From opening track “Driving this Car Head First into a Wall” to closer “Finger on the Trigger,” Until The End expectedly ram every staple of hardcore down your throat only to rip it back out when they see fit.

At times, the guitar tuning and chord progressions are similar to Obituary’s The End Complete and the vocals of Pete Kowalsky are akin to inflections of Burnt By The Sun’s Mike Olender. At others, the music possesses an early Sick Of It All and Agnostic Front vibe, which, for the floor-punchers and ninja trainees, is a bona fide signal Until The End don’t adhere to shout ‘n’ pout guidelines that’s current in vogue.

Certainly, this quintet won’t win any awards for reinventing the wheel as Blood in the Ink uses repeated themes (riffs, song structure, vocal patterns) in order to magnify their message of a hardcore unity and sonic supremacy. Even if one look at the interior of the album seems to vindicate violence, Until The End wants to punch you bloody for all the ‘good’ reasons. Humor aside, if Hatebreed, Hoods, Skarhead and all the other bands who own more than one pair of brass knuckles are fair game, then Until The End should appeal to you. Those looking for more evolution in the hardcore ladder are strongly advised to head back to the ‘right’ side of the tracks.