Anger is a huge driving point for Shattered Sun’s sophomore album The Evolution of Anger, and the past two years for this band has been nothing but that. On their new album, the Texan metal band says it’s okay to be angry. “People are fed up and I am certainly fed up,” lead vocalist Marcos Leal said in a press release, “We almost burned this band to the ground internally. Between all the things we have done over the years, things came to the surface and we didn’t even know if we were going to have a record.” Drummer Robert Garza added, “We aren’t guaranteed so many shots at this, and it took us almost breaking up to understand that. Just going into the recording of the album, there was a lot of negative changes for me personally so I channeled those emotions into every damn time I smacked those drums.”

As soon as the drums start on the album’s opener “Keep Your Eyes Shut”, you know you’re in for one hell of a treat. The aggression can be heard and felt on each of The Evolution of Anger’s ten brutal tracks. Throughout this album you can hear how this anger helped fuel the band. “Our fans will love this ‘evolution,’” Leal said, “it’s what everyone has been living around for the past three years in what’s going on with the world, let alone how heavy music makes an individual feel. Anger and hate are the match and we are the gasoline.” The energy and aggression doesn’t stop on the opening number, it proceeds all the way until the album’s closer “Hope Dies”.

One of the strongest tracks on The Evolution of Anger has to be the single “Hollowed Chains”. The nearly five and a half minutes long track is filled with powerful lyrics (“Now close your fist/ We’re gonna fight for this/ They ripped it right from our hands/ We can’t stop the hate that’s growing within / But we can make it last/ Lost in this stand to make a change/ Because you know there gonna take it away/ The fire that lit this path/ Burns us all away”) and heavy riffs and melodies backed by guitarists Daniel Trejo and Jessie Santos and keyboardist Henry Garza.

Another strong track off this album is “Burn It Down”, a song that Trejo showed to drummer Robert Garza once he rejoined the band. “Once Daniel came back into the fold, the first song he showed me was “Burn it Down,” a perfect reflection of what occurred within Shattered Sun,” Garza stated. “It instantly clicked; I added my lyrical exorcism and told him we have to fight harder than ever.” It’s clear that this song talks about the band’s near self-destruction back in 2015, the same year they signed to Victory Records (Broadside, For the Win, The Tossers) and the release of their previous album, Hope Within Hatred. The chorus clearly points it out to the listener with its powerful chorus, “We’re hating/ We’re lying/ On us they are relying/ Digging ourselves out or digging our own grave/ We’re falling/ We’re climbing/ Is us we are defining/ Digging ourselves out or digging our own grave.”

The Evolution of Anger is filled with other great head bangers such as “Declassified”, “Out for Justice”, “Like Gasoline”, and my personal favorite, “Blame”, which starts off with a bang fueled by Leal’s growling lyrics, “The worst is yet to come.”

Overall, The Evolution of Anger is a solid follow up to their Victory Records debut. While I wasn’t a fan of the band a long time ago, this album has gotten me a lot more interested in them. The struggles the band went through personally on this album show how strong they really are. Most bands would’ve broken up if they went under those same conditions. The Evolution of Anger is one hell of a head banger. If you’re a fan of bands like Trivium, Wovenwar, and Darkness Divided, you’ll enjoy this album and Shattered Sun in general. The band will embark next week on the Vans Warped Tour from July 26 in Maryland Heights, MO, all the way until the tour’s end in Pomona, CA, on the Full Sail University Stage along with acts like Boston Manor, Trophy Eyes, and recent Victory Records signees Dead Girls Academy.