Cold Driven derives it's name from its sound; A hard driven rock sound with many different influences from different genres. Cold Driven band member are Billy Nickell on vocals, Dennis Nickell on Vocals and Bass, Ben Bouthillier on Guitar, Shane Bouthillier on drums and Samples, and Joe Smith on the Guitar. While just listening to the second song Breaking Condemnation you can tell what the band members have power packed into the album. The one thing to me and one of the most important aspects of an album that stands out on this album is how the clean cut professional sound comes from of the album especially for the type of genre in which Cold Driven plays. 

The first track on the album is "Film Score", an instrumental mixed with different sounds which are just a taste of what sets Cold Driven's sound, with the deep sounding bass and guitars and strong heavy backup vocals. 

"Breaking Condemnation" is the stand out hit on this album. It didn't even take the fifteen to thirty-second listening rule to make up on mind up on this track. The sound that leads into the guitar then quickly into the main vocals is what quickly grabbed my attention. In some songs I find that the heavy back up vocals can get in the way of the song or ruin the song, but that is what helps bring the song to the heights that it deserves. This song is an example of where it is great to hear the nice crisp professional sound. 

"Shackles", which is the third song also struck out to me. This song struck me mostly because I could hear a Limp Bizkit influence at the start of the song. Shane Bouthillier shows off his speed on drums in this song. The drums just amazed me in this song. I thought that if the drums in a couple of spots were a couple of seconds longer I would of liked this song more. 

"Don't You (Who I Am)", opens up with a guitar picking session. I found that having the guitar picking as the opening lick proves beyond doubt that Cold Driven has many different types of influences. But dont worry Cold Driven fans they didn't lose faith in their style they pick up the speed and step back into their own sound and style after about a minute. 

"Slipping Away" is the final song on Set In Stone. This song finishes out an album that has many different potential to create a name for the band. The ending of the song is a prime example of the excellent crisp studio sound. 

While having many different influences in music styles and genres, Cold Driven has blended together all of their talents and styles to create and album that will surely take them to new heights. As I have written a couple of times in this review the main factor in which brings this album together is the crisp and tight sound that comes off of the album, especially being a metal album.

www.colddriven.com
www.myspace.com/colddriven

Matt Hartwick
m.hartwick@partyinkingston.com