The fine balance between utter disdain and hopelessness with relentless apathy is essentially what makes Long Island’s Bayside such an unclassifiable rock band. Their combination of depressing emo-centric lyricism and moody exteriors have made them one of the most easy-to-relate-to bands on the Victory roster (after all, how many of us can truly relate to the “bludgeoning” riffs and double-bass drum kicks of metalcore’s elite, hmm?). Take the dark melodic contours of Alkaline Trio, throw in the hazy optimism of Smoking Popes and add a dash of sincere melancholy (with some wicked wit for good measure), and you’ve got your basic Bayside sound.

“I can’t, can’t wait/till you see, see, see/what death and disgust/have done to me.”

The above lyric, which appears on Bayside’s third full length album, The Walking Wounded, can sum up the majority of thoughts and emotions the band are portraying to the listener. For those of you living under a rock, Bayside’s drummer, John “Beatz” Holohan was tragically killed in a van accident Halloween 2005. With such a traumatic experience looking the band in the face, it would have been easy to quit and go numb to the world. Instead, they kept Beatz in spirit, and became a better band. The hard work pays off onWounded, as the Long Island quartet (vocalist/guitarist Anthony Raneri, guitarist Jack O’Shea, bassist Nick Ghanbarian, and new drummer Chris Guglielmo) has never sounded more intense and on point. Working with them again are Shep Goodman and Kenny Gioia, both of whom produced 2005’s self-titled effort, and they helped made the band’s sound tighter and angrier.