Flaw… when I first saw the CD, I thought it was just another nu-metal band and didn’t expect anything special. But you can’t judge an album by looking at it’s cover! My mistake… The first few times I listened to Through The Eyes, I just noticed that parts of it sounded like other bands. I heard a bit of Korn, A Perfect Circle, some Machine Head, a drop of Tool (which is not really a surprise, since this album is excellently produced, engineered and mixed by David Bottrill, who was also responsible for the production of the latest Tool albums). Then the album started to grow on me. Musically it can certainly be called nu-metal, with grinding guitarriffs (by Jason Daunt and Lance Arny), pounding basslines (Ryan Jurhs) and driving drums (Chris Ballinger), exuding a healthy dose of energy and some anger as well. But it’s not like that all the time. Many of the songs sound very intense and emotional, for a large part due to the voice and lyrics of Chris Volz. Though he sometimes screams and raps (much like Machine Head’s Robb Flynn does), mostly his voice is clean and simply captivating.

He resembles Keith Caputo and/or Maynard James Keenan at times. Ryan Jurhs’ vocal parts also combine very well with Chris Volz’s. The lyrics are very personal, yet easily conveyed to the listener’s own experiences. The main theme of the texts is personal growth, they’re about someone who wants to be a better person but isn’t there yet. In my opinion, this is what sets Flaw apart from other nu-metal bands. They’re not simply lashing out at those who have hurt them and venting their anger. It goes much deeper than that and that’s what makes Flaw very interesting. Some of my personal favorites are “My Letter”, “What I Have To Do” and “Out Of Whack”, but every song on this album is truly worth listening to, including the “secret” bonus track, a piano version of “Only The Strong” (the original of which is the opening song). Through The Eyes is a varied and strong debut album that won’t leave my CD-player any time soon (unless it’s to view the enhanced CD content in my computer…)!