Time In Malta "A Second Engine"

When I have some time to relax on the weekends, I like to actually go back to old(ish) music. I peruse the two towering stacks of discs (with no cases!) atop my bookshelf, a number of 200-CD-holding binders and, since I've always been so tech-savvy (uh huh...), my directories of years worth of digital music. A lot of the time, I wind up thinking, "I used to listen to this shit? And liked it? Srsly?" But there are some great moments of rediscovery to be had. Case in point: Time In Malta's A Second Engine.

As my embarrassing original review implies, I've liked A Second Engine since I bought it in 2002. But in the past couple years I seem to have developed an even bigger soft spot for their 2002-era sound, and I'm unabashedly loving it now. What's really friggin' cool about this record is how the band packages all their playing styles -- chunky, scream-y metallic hardcore, driving melodic rock, mid-paced post-hardcore -- in a warm, totally rock-oriented production job. The band shifts gears a lot from song to song but the recording makes it such a cohesive and unique-sounding effort. And let's face it; even without the sweet recording, Time In Malta blew most of the early-2000s melodic metalcore acts out of the water. They actually harnessed the sheer power of metallic hardcore, the hooks of rock and the texture of post-hardcore, and did so much more than haphazardly toss some vocal melodies into a mess of breakdowns and bland riffs. And the drumming? It rules.

Time In Malta never quite fit any mold and I'm thinking that's what helps their music hold up especially well in the present day. Although a very different album, A Second Engine is up there with Skycamefalling's full-length metalcore masterpiece, 10.21. I wish I could post the whole damn thing so you could get the effect and feel the ebb and flow, but it's 2008. You can find a way.

Time In Malta - Read Your Mind
Time In Malta - This Revolution

Worth it.