• Artist: Society's Finest
  
• Album: The Journey...So Far
  
• Release date: August 15, 2000
  
• Record label: Solid State Records
  
• Track listing:
  

1. "1995"
   
2. "Six Seconds Left Until Daylight"
   
3. "Lucky 13"
   
4. "Kiss the Girls"
   
5. "Knife Fight"
   
6. "Monarch"
   
7. "Seven Years of Momentum"
   
8. "Marshall Reality"
   
9. "Following the Robertsons"
   
10. "Dead People"
    

"1995" begins the album off with a strong start. It's very Mathcore sounding. Sounds like a mix between Narcissus and Zao. Interestingly enough, that's probably why Zao hired Vocalist Joshua Ashworth to fill-in for awhile in 2004, while Society's Finest was on their first hiatus. Awesome track.

"Six Seconds Until Daylight" is a pretty good track. It's late-90's/early-2000's Metalcore sound. Much like Zao or Extol. In the middle it breaks off with a single riff, then builds up again. Then it turns into a relatively fast song for Metalcore and then ends with a pop punk ending.

"Lucky 13" starts with the band's seemingly signature floor tom fill. As a drummer myself, I really appreciate bands that don't use the snare more than the rest of the drums. In the middle of the intro they break into a kind of redneck sounding song and then back to the chaos. Around the ending this weird programming sound comes in and then onto the next song.

"Kiss the Girls" has a very eery guitar riff to start with and they break out the drums with the same but impressive fill for about two measures, and then a sorta of fast pace and then back to the same but impressive fill. Society's Finest really reminds me of Zao. But that's partly because they are/were brother bands. Around 2:40 the song brings in clapping! Clapping! And goes back to the brutal Embodyment sounding Metalcore. (If you recall, Society's Finest and Embodyment also shared a member)

"Knife Fight" has some more cool tom fills. Society's Finest drummer, Chad Wilburn (or Josh Burnett) did a great job. The song later takes a weird emo sound with clean singing even! Last thing I expected from this band. The scream and the metal come back, but for a little while they maintain the singing as well.

"Monarch" starts with a great Bass intro by Joel Bailey (ex-Sixpence None the Richer). The band introduces a Mathcore sounding guitar with ride cymbal and switches to a Deathcore beat.

"Seven Years of Momentum" starts with a riffs and snare/crash and hi-hat pedal with the bass drum coming in a little later. Then the Metalcore kicks in with the Bass guitar, dirty guitars and floor toms. And Ashworth's Vocals of course. It would be remiss to forget that. Guitarists Rob Pruett and Kris McCaddon (ex-Embodyment, ex-Demon Hunter, ex-The Famine) keep a very good guitar sound even with Mathy sound and the grunge sound.

"Marshall Reality" starts with a clip from some movie I've never seen. At first I thought it was from the Matrix but I don't think it is. Then it breaks into the song with the flipping brutal sound of early-2000's Metalcore and Ashworth's Zao Vocals. It maintains that brutality for essentially the whole song.

"Following the Robertsons" has a very awesome floor tom fill along with the beautiful sound of a ride cymbal. This track may very well be my favorite track off the album. Because of its Mathy-ness probably. Or the drum solo of sorts. This might be one of the only Metalcore albums that the band uses the toms, the floor tom predominantly, more than the snare! There's almost no sign that they even used a double bass pedal on this album.

"Dead People" is a pretty great track as well. Needless to say a great way to end the album. The guitars have sort of a weird sound. It gets pretty chaotic on this track. They even have a Bass solo of sorts. Another clip, and then a kind of faded vocal track mixed with spoken word and melodic/math sounding guitars and slow drums with many-a fill. The end of the album reminds me of Training for Utopia even. They end the album with a clip saying "no redneck is this creative."

Sounds Like: Zao, Narcissus, Training for Utopia, Embodyment

Credits:

• Joshua Ashworth - Vocals
  
• Rob Pruett - Guitars
  
• Kris McCaddon - Guitars
  
• Joel Bailey - Bass
  
• Chad Wilburn - Drums
  
• Josh Burnett - Drums (on this recording)
  

Signed

The Bearded Dragon