The truth lies somewhere in the middle. I'm a little turned off by the title of the CD and a few of the tracks, such as "A Cross and A Girl Named Blessed," just on the grounds that they strike me as overly pretentious. Their bio doesn't help much on this front, categorizing themselves with titles such as "the influence/the drive" (the drummer) or "the lead/the aura" (one of the guitarists). Creative, maybe, but unnecessary. Then again, I'm reviewing the music, not their promotion, so I guess that's a moot point. The music writing shows heavy influences from bands like Crossfade, Earshot, and Breaking Benjamin, along with fellow Canadians Nickelback and Default. Vocalist Matisyn hits his stride in the realm of those bands as well, although there are places on the CD where his vocals are reminiscent of Taproot or Rise Against. The emo connection comes in heaviest on the lyrics, all apparently relationship oriented, with degrees of darkness/sadness even in the otherwise positive ones. The aforementioned single is one of the weaker tracks in my opinion, but there are a few seriously catchy songs, such as "Beg" or "Possession," with big choruses begging for singing along. On the other hand, there are some I just can't get into, such as the mellower "Quote," which encapsulates far too many lines of the song with the words 'quote'/'unquote.' Again, starting to strike me as a bit pretentious.