With a Voice

The Witness in the Valley

It takes some serious skills to be a good screamer and not ruin your voice live (or in the studio) within a short amount of time. Screamer and lead vocalist for With a Voice, Dylan Raftevold, channels the post-hardcore/ metalcore screaming really well. He reminds listeners of A Day to Remember’s Jeremy McKinnon and A Hope for Home’s Nathan Winchell, while the clean vocals can be matched to some of We Came As Romans’ better tracks.

With a Voice’s new album, The Witness In The Valley, is a mixed bag of the metalcore genre and pure, post-hardcore. Many songs have faster and darker breakdowns, while the interludes in the middle of songs (like “Phantom Pain”) border on the post-hardcore, non-metal feel. While it’s easily the best track here (even if it drags a bit), the album tends to feel a bit like a sampler platter of what the band’s been working on for a long time.

Other tracks like “The Hero I Had” may remind listeners of the hardcore we heard from fan favorites Chasing Victory, without the raw rock placement. Since forming in 2010, this is With a Voice’s first full-length, which is surprising for a band with a decent following and experience playing hundreds of shows with big names. The songs show the group’s age, and, unfortunately, it showcases only glimpses of what a band like this is capable of.

For fans of A Day To Remember (screams, breakdowns) , A Hope For Home (heavy aspect).