Now, Pave the Way isn’t awful. It’s just generic and completely unoriginal form of Thrash/American metal that seems to have been keeping things warm until Skinlab in fact returned. Thick grooves, gruff vocals, some clean croons and melodies all rendered with a heavy dose of Pantera meets Killswitch Engage. It’s well produced, decently played and has some decent riffs here and there, but as an album Pave the Way just leaves me flat.

That all being said, I could see the market and audience for this release- fans of Lamb of God or even newer Throwdown could do worse for their stomping redneck metal, and at times Flatline crank out some solid riffage such as “Collapse”, the sheer Pantera worship of “Dying Breed” and “Worn Thin” and even spread their wings a bit on semi ballad “God as My Witness” But the whole thing sound so contrived and cookie cutter, you can’t help think of other acts, especially with Travis Johnson’s, throaty Phil Anslemo impersonation and occasional attempt at singing (“The Passing”).

While I’d rather listen to the likes of Better Left Unsaid or Antagonist, Flatline are certainly not horrible, and I may just be too harsh, but when you’ve got the likes of Obscura, Ulcerate, Augury and Asphyx in your Ipod also, its easy to look over something like this.