Make Amends

On its third album, Letter to the Exiles unleashes a sustained metalcore attack that displays both finesse and brutality. The Long Island, N.Y.-based quartet serves up enough blistering riffage and pummeling blast beats to satisfy any aficionado of hard music while keeping its Christian lyrics keen and uncompromised. Guitarist Mark Randazzo lends the album distinct colors with his fluent, near-prog solo flights. His clean singing contrasts powerfully with the harsh vocals of newly recruited member Chris King, letting the band move from the exalted to the horrific (sometimes in the same song). The brooding ballad “A World of Wicked Man” pairs the two singers in a duet of rising desperation. Transcending the fallen nature of man is a recurring theme, with “The Violence of Our Kind” and “They Made Me the War Machine” especially standing out for their apocalyptic fervor. War of Ages vocalist Leroy Hamp joins King for the harrowing but ultimately redemptive “Retribution.” Letter to the Exiles surges and chugs through Make Amends with impressive agility and purpose.