Flaw
Through The Eye

THE REVIEW

I hate it when I'm recommended (or I recommend) an album by a little-known artist and the first thing that comes out of someone's mouth, once the name is mentioned, is the stupidest of questions: "What genre are they?" And often an idiotic question is answered with an even bigger idiocy as happened to me with Flaw.
"What genre are they?"
"Nu Metal, but they're among the coolest out there".
True, Absolutely true, at least in part...
This album is one of the most honest debuts I've ever had the chance to listen to, and the nu metal label does absolutely no justice to describing the sound rich in pathos and, at the same time, the aggression unleashed by these Americans—a compact and powerful sound elevated by Chris Volz's vocal versatility, one of the most beautiful and distinctive voices around.
They might resemble Staind: probably, but the ones from the first honest and powerful album,
they may remind you of Deftones: yes, but maybe the raw ones from "Adrenaline",
you may at times recognize Disturbed: in certain moments too, but with a different verve,
but then they're Nu Metal!!!
Not a chance!!! Do you think songs like "My Letter", "Best I Am", "One More Time" and the ghost track just piano and vocals in a goosebump-inducing version of "Only the Strong" are Nu Metal? And let's stop labeling everything necessarily; Flaw offers a truly honest blend of rock, powerful crossover with emocore hues, all perfectly blended into guitars with strongly Helmet-like parts.

A band not recommended for lovers of technique and various virtuosity, while those who love heavy atmospheres and breaks will desperately love tracks like "Payback," one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever heard in my life. "Only the Strong", regardless of the 2 versions present on this album, the melody is beautiful, exciting, and strong: it would be beautiful even with farts and belches instead of the singing, "Amendment" is pure pathos, a beautiful piece that energizes and relaxes.
And here I stop because if I continue to describe the singles, I will never finish since out of 14 tracks, 10 are easily noteworthy and of high quality, and it’s perfect this way since I remind you that we are talking about a debut, one of the best I've come across in the last 4 years.

"Through The Eye" dated 2001 will unfortunately be an unfulfilled promise as 3 years later "Endangered Species" will be released, an enormous disappointment that will collapse everything good proposed in this splendid first album, and the band will inevitably disband.
This should not influence this listening; not considering them would be a big flaw, and today I consider this work one of the most successful in the genre. It’s an album with a soul inside, a soul that under the skin is very sensitive, chameleonic in demeanor and has something to say, and it is precisely this desire to say that makes me love this work; you can clearly feel the adrenaline of a band at their debut, there is such a strong need to be heard... and then there’s "Only the Strong"... and there’s also "Payback"...