By Nick Viccione / Asst. Entertainment Editor

Let me start off by saying, The Campaign is a technically sound album. It keeps listeners on their toes and has enough creativity to satisfy fans that have been waiting for this album since 2005. However, let me follow that statement up with a short one about the amount of time bands take between the releases of their albums.

Four years is too long between albums for any active band. Period. What winds up happening are fans either forget, stop caring or their expectations are set way too high. We think that if the band has had four years to prepare an album, that it needs to be absolutely amazing, and if it is not, it is immediately cast off as a disappointment. And in the case of The Campaign, this is exactly what I hear when I listen to this album.

When Into the Moat’s previous full length, The Design, was released in 2005, it blew me away. And there are still instances that I find myself listening to it now. However it could be a combination of me being four years older, or my aforementioned theory on bands taking their sweet time putting out an album, but The Campaign just does not spark my interest in the way The Design did.

I will now politely ask you to re-read the first sentence of this review. The Campaign has all the makings of a good album. From a technical standpoint, the guitar work stays interesting throughout the album, while the drum work is on par to what it was on The Design. I find myself really liking certain “parts” of songs, instead of the songs themselves as a whole. But, then again, with any tech-metal band, this usually is the case.

Into the Moat is a good band. But, from a personal standpoint, this album falls short of my expectations. If Into the Moat decides to write another album, I hope it doesn’t take them another four years. Until then, I will spin The Design occasionally, and still enjoy it.