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Gratifying when a band takes your advice. I reviewed this band's last album Unborn Legacies years and years ago, and my major piece of advice was that they needed a better singer. Now I get their third album Fractured Reality and I see that lo, they have a better singer. Admittedly new guy Anthony Cunningham is not a first-rate vocalist, but he has a lot of energy and passion, and he infuses this album with a lot more life than guitarist Mark Ridenour managed when he was singing.

The good is that combined with their new singer is a more direct approach to songwriting as well as the knack for good riffs this band always had, producing a more cohesive and propulsive album. They have wisely jettisoned the Iced Earth/Nevermore approach of riffs that stop dead when they are done, which does nothing but stop the music cold. This time their riffs have some roll and bounce to them, as on cuts like "Mind Messiah". The production is okay, nothing special, but not horrible, and this does still sound very much like an indie release, which it is. If there is anything wrong with Endangered Reign it's that they still tend to write songs in the same key and at the same kind of middle pace. Now this time that middle pace is a bit faster than it used to be, so this sounds a bit more upbeat and energetic than their old stuff, but it still makes the album wear about halfway through, as no song breaks the mold and either really rips or slows down and does anything with more dynamic. This is miles better than their last disc, but Endangered Reign are still not pro material.