The Flood

Costa Mesa metalcore quintet Of Mice & Men step up their game on the band’s sophomore album *The Flood*. With pummeling rhythms and ferocious guitars, “O.G. Loco” opens revealing that they may have named themselves after a 2004 Megadeth song by the same name instead of John Steinbeck\'s classic 1937 novella. The screamed vocal shredding of former Attack Attack! frontman Austin Carlile is contrasted alongside the clean melodic tones of second singer Shayley Bourget, keeping things dynamic — especially on the machine-gun attack of “Still YDG\'N.” With Bourget taking the lead on “Purified,” the song proves to be the most accessible, while “Ohioisonfire” focuses more on a bare-bones nü-metal approach as Carlile pushes the bar up on his demonic screeching, exercising rhythmic control and restraint. At just under two minutes long, “I’m a Monster” ends the album with a feral assault.

Of Mice & Men's sophomore outing treads common waters (a whole lot of screaming, punishing breakdowns, and staccato guitar riffs), but the California-based metalcore quintet’s level of intensity, led in part by the expert crooning of clean man (Shayley Bourget) and scream man (former Attack Attack! frontman Austin Carlile), helps keeps The Flood from disappearing into the vast post-hardcore/emo/screamo abyss.