Digital Renegade

Album review

A swirling, sonic maelstrom created at the exact point where metal, pop, and electronica collide with one another, I See Stars continue to refine -- and also expand -- their electronicore sound on their third album, Digital Renegade. While the album finds I See Stars working with the same tool kit as their earlier work, it feels like the band has figured out a way to change the recipe without necessarily changing the ingredients, upping the metal ratio while cutting back significantly on the pop. This kind of shift results in an album that's not merely more aggressive, but more muscular and substantial. With a bigger, more serious sound at their command, I See Stars are able to get over the gimmick hump that seems to stump so many bands looking to fuse dance music and metal together by making their songs feel big enough to accommodate all of these disparate elements. While the group's fans might find this transition a bit jarring at first, the changes heard on Digital Renegade make it the most mature album to date from a band that's definitely evolving in a promising direction.

© Gregory Heaney /TiVo