Nonpoint (Bonus Track Version)

Nonpoint’s 2012 eponymous studio album brought a few major changes for the Florida rap-metal/metalcore quintet. Bassist Adam Woloszyn and guitarist Rasheed Thomas (both from the band Inn Cinema) have replaced former members Ken MacMillan and guitarist Zach Broderick, respectively. This also happens to be the band’s first full-length recording for Razor & Tie. Despite these notable adjustments, the music picks up right where 2010’s Miracle left off. Elias Soriano comes in screaming a cappella before his band kickstarts “Lights, Camera, Action”—a song that balances melody and catharsis with a hard-hitting post-grunge attack. “The Way I See Things” follows with sing-along hard rock steeped in a mid- to late-'90s style that recalls Seven Mary Three, Better Than Ezra, and Silverchair. Then the standout cut “Left for You” throws punches harder than anything the last decade of the 20th century could have produced. Soriano’s hip-hop–studied phrasing shines best on “Go Time,” where his rhyming in melody keeps his vocal style from approaching full-on rapping. “Ashes” closes with Spanish guitar cleverly worked into the formula.