In terms of car dealerships ANOTHER KIND OF DEATH parks their Porsche at the gate to block passers-by from seeing the Novas on the lot. Like so many “*”core bands who find a unique drumming pattern and write tons of riffs around that basic precept, the glue holds everything together until the listener fastens the seatbelt and cranks the ignition. The excitement of something new wears off as the driver falls into the repetition of driving, and the familiarity of the local scenery leaves the client to look for flaws and defects before making an offer.

“Sleepless Every Night” hosts ten tracks in an alternating strong-weak-strong-weak pattern. The disc begins with the Spanish band’s masterpiece, “The Rope.” Tight percussion and distorted Metalcore passages make the track’s mood relentless, and in terms of hardened bitterness and contained aggression Noisecore has never delivered anything that rivals this composition. “The Rope” has an honest grit that, quite bluntly, the remainder of the release lacks.

Araña’s percussive radiance permeates the remainder of the release, but the concept becomes repetitive early. ANOTHER KIND OF DEATH integrates several elements for variety, but these all appear in more favorable efforts such as the handclaps featured in THE ACACIA STRAIN’s “Smoke Ya Later.” Interesting phrasings surface in tracks like “Long Distance Vision,” but few demand a second or third listen. “. . . And I Chose You From Death” offers a fair Spaghetti Western instrumental, but the songs all seem to run out of gas and stand out about as much as a vehicle parked in the ditch along the Metalcore highway at midnight.

“Car Crash” has one selling point that could serve as the equivalent of a superior stereo system when deciding which vehicle to purchase. The band lists two singers (Ale and Mario) who appear to alternate between screechy harsh vocals and plain-spoken accentuations at the syllable level. This effort comes across as seamless and sounds like one talented (if not confused) vocalist. The clean phrasings actually express a veiled personality that makes the song and if anything should appear more on the disc. A spark of genius resides in this vocal collage, and it begs for comparison with old RUN-D.M.C. One can only hope to hear more of these bipolar rants on ANOTHER KIND OF DEATH’s future recordings.

In total “Sleepless Every Night” offers two gems on an otherwise monotonous parking lot. The remainder of the release will get you from point A to point B in an average three-minute commute, but the ride won’t prove half as interesting.

(Online February 1, 2008)