California's A Love Ends Suicide are Metal Blade's newest metalcore act, executing a solid debut album with In the Disaster. The material is not at all original, but that doesn't mean the band has nothing to offer. Immediate comparisons can be made to Bleeding Through, Hatebreed, As I Lay Dying or It Dies Today. You may be thinking to yourself that we already have enough of these bands. Honestly, I thought the same upon first listen, but then I was pleasantly surprised. A Love Ends Suicide ups the ante in terms of heaviness for a metalcore album, occasionally crossing into death metal and hardcore.

All the trademarks for a metalcore album are here: the Swedish guitar parts, neck-snapping breakdowns and angry barking vocals from frontman John Cairoli. The faster speed-bursts of the album reminded me more than once of Bleeding Through. Bassist Emir Abdo provides clean vocals here and there, though they aren't used quite to the extent that other bands in the genre incorporate them and seem out of place.

"Cold Summer" opens the album furiously and songs like the title track, "Let Spark to Fire" and "Another Revolution" are fast and brutally heavy. The guitars are well above your average, predictable playing, with screeching solos and riffs straight from the Scandinavian metal scene. Credit must be given to guitarists Oscar Cairoli and Matt Garcia for putting their stamp on the album.

A Love Ends Suicide easily could be dismissed as just another metalcore band. If this had been released three years ago, they probably would be a band to watch. And they still could be. A band with a sound this tight should be able to evolve on future albums and their live show should be insane. All in all, this album is a decent and fairly entertaining listen from start to finish. They receive no points for originality but many for their punishing style.