Somewhere between pop punk and hardcore lies the group, Therefore I Am. Their new album, Sound Of Human Lives, is an adrenaline rush without the headache. It is a standout record in the crowded isles of the Alternative Press bands of the world. If you are like me, you hate it when bands just scream for the sake of screaming. Too many bands these days think screaming recklessly somehow works , but you can hear that it clearly doesn’t. Somehow Therefore I Am lead singer, Alex Corriea, balances singing and screaming in a way that sounds amazing. Before popping it into the CD player, I didn’t know what I was going to hear and had no previous knowledge of the band. With that being said, let me talk about what stood out to me.

Like any record in this hardcore screamo -ish scene, there are a lot of crazy guitar riffs and a lyrical darkness. Nothing too emo or goth, but just some dark subject matters at times. There’s fast drumming, slowed down at times for the building up of big epic breaks. This is best heard on the title track, which is also an instrumental. I am not sure about the decision to not put lyrics to that song, but it doesn’t sound too bad. It just sounds incomplete.

The third song on The Sound of Human Lives, “Splinters”, grabs you immediately. If this track wasn’t such an eargasm, I may not have paid any more attention to the rest of this album beyond that point. I wasn’t too impressed with the first two tracks. “Splinters”, with its catchy chorus and its slower indie build up, was almost my favorite track until I heard “My Father, The Fatalist”.

The best track off of The Sound Of Human Lives is clearly “My Father, The Fatalist”. On this song is where the vocals and musicianship of Therefore I Am are best showcased. It is awkward listening to it loudly though, because it isn’t the most pleasant of subjects. Referring to a rough or troubled childhood relationship with his father, Corriea sings “we were both born with the damage done”. I guess it is true that out of great pain comes great lyrical creativity with some people. The emotion of the story is so well done in that short four minute time span. It is quite impressive to say the least.

“It’s No Wonder Why” is probably the most emotional track on The Sound of Human Lives. The song is about Corriea’s father and his struggle with drug addiction. The lyrics “at the foot of your casket I thought ‘It’s no wonder why” and “the veins in your arms” are as hauntingly honest as anything I have heard. Do understand the track totally rocks, but just know the subject matter is serious. Songs like that and “It’s No Wonder Why” clearly prove that Therefore I Am are so much deeper than people will give them credit for initially. Don’t be that person and miss out on a fantastic album.