The Disease & The Cure are a small, new hard/metalcore band. They have recently released their debut EP, Grasping The Concept Of Life, which this review will cover. “Core” bands are a dime a dozen, nowadays, with them all sounding the same, and at times TDATC falls into that category. After one listen I realized that they pulled a lot of their sound from other major hardcore bands. That’s not to say this a bad album; just don’t expect anything majorly original.

Conner Newberry’s guttural barking and growling vocals are good at their best but just mediocre the rest of the time. His barking vocals sound a lot like David Bunton (The Showdown) and, of course, there's the easy comparison to Jake Luhrs (August Burns Red). Conner’s clean vocals, on the other hand, are what save the vocals on this album from just being okay. Conner’s clean vocals remind me a bit of a little more huskier Don Clark (Demon Hunter). They are also mixed with some vocal styles that I haven’t heard in any other metalcore band.

Now, when it comes to the music itself, it’s pretty basic, but that’s not to say it’s awful. Most of the songs are made up of different chug-a-lugging beats and rhythms. The music is mostly led by the guitar section of Julz Stewart and Joey Roush. The one standout track vocally along with musically is “You Are Who You Are” with most of the song breaking away from the chugging beats of the rest of the songs. Also, Conner’s vocals sound very different on this song because of his minimal screaming and growling on this song.

Many of the songs on Grasping The Concept Of Life are about living for God and trying to live better each day. “You Are Who You Are” is able to break away from that model of metalcore worship by being about staying true to who God says you are. While the lyrics can be a little shallow at times, this doesn’t take any value away from the album. Because the lyrics are positive and clean, they are able to outshine other secular metal bands.

Though this album isn’t anything mind blowing, it’s still a very solid first effort by a young and growing band. When I was listening to this album, I could hear that this band needs to mature some and also needs to grow together more. In time, I think they will have a tighter sound. On the more negative side, the songs do start to run together at times, but that’s one thing that plagues most metal bands now. If I was to offer one piece of advice, I would say that this band, to be able to stand out, needs to sound different. They need to sound fresh and new and not like all the other acts out there.

2½/5 Stars: After a few listens through, I started to feel like it was getting to be generic most of the time. It seemed that this album was full of ups and downs, making it a middle-of-the-road album. One last thing I will say is that this album was pretty good for the most part, but nothing ground breaking.

I would like to hear what you think about this album, if you have it, so please leave your thoughts below in the comment box.