Review
This Moment
Finding a Voice in the Dark

Uprising (2005) Josh F.

This Moment – Finding a Voice in the Dark cover artwork
This Moment – Finding a Voice in the Dark — Uprising, 2005

Playing music in a genre like metalcore is a difficult thing. You've got to do what you do very well to separate yourself from the rest of the pack. Even then, odds are you will be tagged as such and thrown in with the rest of the pack of 18 Visions', Atreyu's, and Unearth's.

Finding a Voice in the Dark, the debut full length from Southern California's This Moment, is a record you will either love or hate. It all depends on your stance on this style of music, which seems to permeate more from California than from any other state in the union.

Many will take note of this band because of their producer; Former Death By Stereo bassist Paul Miner. Yep, the same guy who produced Atreyu's Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses. As you might expect from that, This Moment's sound could fit well on Victory Records' current roster of bands using interchanging vocals of singing and screaming as well as catchy guitar riffs with breakdown after breakdown. At times, This Moment comes off as the bastard child of The Bled, Shai Hulud, and Atreyu.

The band often uses lyrical imagery that has become far far too typical. The songs make use of imagery such as razor blades and blood, along with songs reeking of desperate heartbreak and loneliness. These songs are delivered with not so much of a higher pitched scream as it is with a guttural howl, making it less obvious how cheesy these songs are at times.

Despite all these things, Finding a Voice in the Dark could have been much worse of a debut than it is. The members of this band are still young, and surely have not yet decided where there sound will go from here. If this band can keep Paul Miner in their camp, as they mature they will have someone competent to guide them along the path to making some great records in their future.

6.0 / 10Josh F. • August 31, 2005

This Moment – Finding a Voice in the Dark cover artwork
This Moment – Finding a Voice in the Dark — Uprising, 2005

Recently-posted album reviews

Painkiller

The Great God Pan
Tzadik (2025)

Painkiller, the trio of John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris shows no signs of slowing down. The Great God Pan is their third full-length, since their reunion in 2024, and in many ways it is an unexpected offering. In keeping with their interests in the metaphysical realm, Painkiller find inspiration from the famed Arthur Machen horror novella. Here, the … Read more

Painkiller

The Equinox
Tzadik (2025)

Painkiller sees three absolute masters of extreme music join forces. John Zorn of Naked City and a billion other projects, Mick Harris who transcended from Napalm Death drummer to illbient guru with Scorn, and producer extraordinaire Bill Laswell. Their first two records, Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets are strange meditations traversing between free-jazz, grindcore and dub. Still hungry … Read more

Dauber

Falling Down
Recess (2025)

The lazy approach would be to call Dauber "ex-Screaming Females," but that barely scratches the surface. If I had to pick one band to namedrop a comparison to, it would be labelmates Night Court. They play a familiar style but with a lot of quirks that set it apart from the genre standard-bearers. It's driving and energetic -- more importantly, … Read more