The Kings Still Reign

With over ten years under their belt, the Florida kings of hardcore are still grasping their crown, and they're still angry as ever.

The Tropic Rot (Ferret 2009) released July 7th, and while many of the older PTW fans stopped listening when the boys released Versions (Ferret 2007) instead of another album with breakdowns, I was ecstatic for the release.

And indeed, in The Rot, PTW still retain the same vibe, tone, and key of Versions. However, where Versions was slow, melodramatic, and somewhat dragging, The Rot is aggressive, energetic, and downright pissed off.

The album kicks off with frontman Jeffrey Moriera asking "So now you're gonna change everything?" The anger in his words is retained throughout the entire disc. The second track, "Sparks It Will Rain" just might be the most vehement song I've heard this band produce. The track begins "Like the firm decision to bring axe forth to head. I want this winged metal to go down." The imagery of a skull split by a hatchet is frightening enough in a song where Moriera, at least metaphorically, wishes for the crash landing of a plane.

Lyrically across the whole album, Moriera is the tightest he's been in years. While on You Come Before You (Atlantic 2003) he seemed a little ambiguous, and on Versions he was incredibly blunt, on the new album he finally has found the words that have been dancing on his tongue, I'm sure, for years. On "Celebrate the Pyre," he admits "I've lived my life without direction... Dragging my body along the black expanse, I can smell the burning trail I've left behind. I'm not a failure. I'm not alone."

As mentioned, the tone of Versions is still present. However, the production is so much cleaner, allowing each drum hit to truly pack a punch, and drummer Chris Hornbrook has never been more solid. Where on Versions, he seemed to take a backseat on certain slower songs, on The Rot, he's interjected himself into the forefront again, playing largely and loudly, proving that you can make creative music and still have it be heavy.

The only critique I can offer is that occasionally, the clean vocals of Moriera can sound a little whiny (but don't worry, nothing can match his grizzly bear-esque growl). Also, the only track that really doesn't resonate with the rest of the energy in this album is "Are You Anywhere." It's a slow track that really doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Overall, it seems PTW found a way to retain the crisp, harsh attack of their first couple albums and combine it with their new momentum from You Come Before You and Versions. When people look back on their discography in 10 years, this is the album that will define the new Poison the Well. Versions laid the path, but failed to reach. The Tropic Rot busted down the gates and burned the path to ashes.

Final: 9.5 out of 10
Tracks to Check Out: "Celebrate the Pyre" "Sparks it Will Rain"