Promoted as pinup darlings ala Silverchair from the outset, Sunk Loto always envisioned themselves as a serious metal band—and so their last studio album prior to disbanding in 2007 also functioned as a last word in artistic reclamation. First order of business: Escape the haunting shadow of pervasive radio favorite “Vinegar Stroke” from 1999’s Social Anxiety EP—penned when drummer Dane Brown was only 13 years old. Rollicking lead single “Everything Everyway” proved to be its mature-minded antidote and a signal of intent: Sunk Loto’s less marketable impulses were no longer off-limits. Opener “5 Years of Silence” channels Sepultura’s calamitous tribal verve; “Empty and Alone” conjures up verses so hot to the touch they likely burned some listeners before they reached the soaring chorus; companion piece “Help” promises ethereal reprieve, but its frequent descents into punishment instead deliver an understanding that roars across the record: Sunk Loto is a serious metal band. “Burning Bridges” is as heavy as nu metal adjacency ever dared to get, shot through with the seething, numerical menace of Mudvayne to the extent it even pays direct homage to the signature percussive stabs of said influence’s “Pharmaecopia” circa 1:35. It’s the most important song on the album—marking a point of no return wherein everything up until Tool-inspired closer “Soul Worn Thin” is decidedly more death than birth.