Lucid - Broken

On this, Lucid's second release, the band has taken their style of metal one step further.  Broken is a more mature sounding and a more cohesive release than their self-titled debut.  The band continues to hang their hat on their brutal, raw riffs and harsh, thrash-influenced/screamed vocals.  But on this album, instead of relying solely on brute strength, they focus on making attempts to make the songs more well-rounded.  Passages of clean singing and guitar solos tend to give these songs a little more variety than the ones on their previous album.  The band even does a cover of the Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive".  One downer though, is that the drum sound on this album is still not any better than on the last album.  It just sounds too thin overall. 

Lyrically, the band does a good job and spends most of their time focusing on the ills of society (complaining, stress, dead-beat dad's, school violence, the downfall of America, etc.)  Production is decent and packaging, while still being pretty lame, at least includes lyrics this time around.

Rating: 63/100

Review By: Matt Morrow

Label: Mello Records

Total Songs: 15

Total Time: 61:06

Tracklisting: 1. Push, 2. Spineless, 3. Child's Play, 4. Nowhere Fast, 5. Stayin' Alive, 6. Exist, 7. Walk Alone, 8. Reject, 9. One Nation, 10. Without You, 11. Always in Me, 12. No Reason, 13. Transparent, 14. Dreaming, 15. Man-Made.

Best Songs: Tracks 1, 5, & 6.

Band Lineup: Shane Aden - Vocals, Mikey Mello - Guitar, Billy "Stickboy" Wyatt - Bass, Terry Fryar - Drums.

Band Website: ?