REVIEW: For Today – “Prevailer – EP”

Artist:  For Today [Facebook] [Twitter]

Album:  “Prevailer – EP”

Tracklist:

1. From Zion
2. Crown of Thorns
3. Flesh and Blood
4. Open Heaven
5. Fearless (Acoustic)

Dropping not too long after their most recent full-length, “Prevailer” is an EP of four new songs and an acoustic version of the mentioned album’s debut single.  While this EP isn’t released alongside very good feelings towards the band and after the departure of one of it’s members, it shouldn’t be held in the same light as these two things.  Credit should be given where credit is due on this release, as well as any – and it does kind of deserve some good credit.

The EP opens up with the track “From Zion,” which may bring some listeners to the days of “Breaker,” sounding like a song that might have been put together between that and their recent album.  This track is, honestly, is a good preview for what the rest of the EP sounds like.  The songs are the sound you’d expect from For Today, aside from some pick-ups in speed and some higher and more intense screams – which are quite impressive, I must say.

This EP as a whole isn’t really something “special” or “new.”  It’s good, yeah, I’ll give it that, but it doesn’t really stand out or sit apart from their other releases.  The songs sound like they could have been on, or have been b-sides from “Immortal,” which isn’t really a bad thing.  It is a bit disappointing, yeah, that they pretty much put out four tracks that sound like a sped up version of their last album, but they’re not bad songs.  I’m probably with most fans when I say that, hopefully, these guys put out a new record, and soon, because these songs did, at least, prove to be a bit of a step in the right direction.

“Open Heaven” is just an all out assault from the get-go, hitting hard and fast and putting the listener back on their seat, and doesn’t even slow down for the cleaner parts, as many For Today songs do.  If anything, the song seems to speed up as it goes, except when the breakdowns come, which hit even harder than the normal pieces of the song.  Heck, I would almost, and I do mean almost, compare the breakdown mid-way through the song to the intro to Thy Art Is Murder’s “Reign of Darkness.”  Bit of an odd band for For Today to be compared to, huh?

The new EP “Prevailer” drops today, April the second, and is available, of course, online on the band’s merch website, Best Buy, Hot Topic, iTunes, Amazon – really, just about anywhere you’d expect to get most music!  Pick it up or give it a download, if you enjoyed “Immortal” then you’ll definitely enjoy this.

Rating:  8.2 / 10

For Fans Of:  Sleeping Giant, MyChildren MyBride, The Great Commission