Album Review: Flyleaf - New Horizons

Though frontwoman Lacey Sturm's departure put a dampener on the release of the third Flyleaf record, New Horizons, Fire Fire makes a ferocious opening statement. Employing a typical quiet to loud technique as Sturm throws goosebump-inducing vocal hooks all over the place, she spits lyrics straight from the Emo 101 Handbook – daddy's drunk, life's shit, rain and fire metaphors are the clichés of choice – but that's strangely okay. She's a femme fatale of hard rock – ever intriguing with her range and cadence, utterly arresting in her delivery, though capable of turning at any point. More unfortunate turns see Flyleaf delivering tracks worthy of Avril Lavigne album filler; Saving Grace, Stand and closer, Broken Wings, may serve as strategic pace-shifters, though it's far harder to deal with clichés about wounds healing and saving face when the underlying guitars and percussion have engaged uplifting rock mode.

New Horizons marks a significant shift in complexity of arrangement when compared with Flyleaf's 2005 self-titled debut record. Whilst Freedom provides another high point for Sturm as her double-tracked vocal wraps around a memorable, snaking melody, it showcases a rhythm section that effortlessly carries guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya's explorations that wander far and wide between dirty and choppy to soaring. Still, it's hard to not just focus on Sturm with the creative delivery of Great Love and Bury Your Heart.

Flyleaf may not be groundbreakers, though they're one of those outfits with an intrinsic gift for creating intricate melody in the context of heavy rock. Once sucked into the beauty created by such an apparent contradiction, it's difficult to ignore – particularly when helmed by an extraordinarily talented female in a male-dominated genre.