Micro: I Prevail - TRUE POWER (Fearless)

Southfield, MI’s I Prevail has come through with their third record. Having seemingly moved on from the traction gained off of a viral cover song the band is really taking off, getting radio play as well as huge tours including one with long-asleep post-hardcore vets Pierce the Veil. Now, personally I Prevail is not a band I go to for much quality as these types of radio rock metalcore bands are a dime a dozen these days. Though, while I don’t find this record to be exactly groundbreaking or think it has much of anything new to offer you, I think the songs themselves are worth paying a little bit of attention to.

Don’t get me wrong, this band isn’t the first to try and recreate Hybrid Theory in the 2020s and a lot of the rap verses are pretty uninspired. There is however some hip hop influence in the instrumentation that is worth a second look. The song “Self-Destruction” for example, which features some less than impressive rapping but utilizes this beat-like structure to present a compelling instrumental backbone. Even songs I did not enjoy as singles and continue to not fully enjoy like “Bad Things” for their cliches of the genre do have pros in a catchy hook or an interesting instrumental bridge.

I cannot ignore, however, that at the end of the day I Prevail doesn’t offer anything too exciting to add to the scene. I’m enjoying this record right now but after a few listens will I feel the same? Will it break even a top twenty-five at year’s end? When my honest opinion is that this record is a novelty and I start to get bored midway through until the closing track; the only change up on the entire release, no I don’t think it will.