It's a new year and a new band

For those about to rock, these guys salute you.\nIn their first step toward bringing back the 1980s, Story of the Year emblazoned the cover to In The Wake of Determination with the band's moniker in neon green, a staple of the hair-metal superstars Poison. With song titles like "Take Me Back" and "Taste the Poison," the album finds a band wearing its collective childhood hair-metal allegiance on its sleeve.\nAfter their multi-platinum-selling debut, Page Avenue, which held fast to anthemic, often anemically formulaic songs, SOTY has moved on. Former producer John Feldman (The Used), rumored to have written many songs for both of his bands, is out. In his place is Steve Evetts, the man behind Dillinger Escape Plan's full-throttle metal, so any hopes of recreating their radio-friendly screamo sound are pretty much D.O.A.\nThe sound on Determination is less power ballad, more balls-to-the-wall rawk. The band combines the better elements of punk and metal, creating a sound much like Thrice (minus the politics), but adds enough shout-alongs to bring back fans that may be alienated by their louder manifestation. Breakneck beats and guitar stomp won't help them win back radio play, but will make their live shows even more of a spectacle.\nThe band has found a sense of unity in abandoning their controlling, if lucrative, formula from Page Avenue. They show a fun side within a fairly serious album, with guitarist Ryan Phillips' lightning-quick guitar licks harkening back to the days of metal indulgence. Proving for good that they will never retread their previous works, the final track, "'Is This My Fate' He Asked Them," is Pantera-esque in its ferocity, speed and demeanor. SOTY doesn't just want to make you forget their old sound, they'll kick your ass if you mention it.\nWhile brash and refreshing, the band's shallow lyrical ability is disappointing. We all know that rock radio is a bloating corpse that exploits bands while compromising artistic integrity, but yelling about it for 48 minutes is overkill. Luckily, the instrumentality and vocal arrangements far outweigh lyrics that could hardly be discriminated from a handful of less musically talented bands.\nThese shortcomings, though, don't add up to a bad album. A good way to avoid the sophomore slump is to make your sound less marginalized and homogenous, and SOTY has succeeded. For bringing back the speed-metal guitar solo and cranking the amps to 11, they at least deserve a listen.