The sudden emergence of several Christian hard bands on Victory Records has been a pleasant surprise. After hearing metalcore newcomers Corpus Christi and hardcore act Before There Was Rosalyn, it's now time to welcome Close Your Eyes to the fold.

On their debut album, We Will Overcome, Close Your Eyes bring a solid hardcore punk sound with metalcore influences. For the most part, the vocals are clean, only occasionally descending into familiar metal growls. That being said, vocalist Shane Raymond has a fairly good voice, better than many in the hard punk genre. In addition to Raymond's singing and occasionally screams, there's a good bit of the required gang vocals. The musicianship is tight, with a good amount of crunchy guitars and nice breakdown moments. Considering most hard bands today are going for a full-on metalcore sound, Close Your Eyes has a fairly unique sound, capable of both hard moments and softer, more worshipful efforts. Listeners may be reminded of a softer, more punk-oriented Sleeping Giant.

Close Your Eyes is an interesting band that manages to keep things exciting on We Will Overcome. There's not a whole lot of variety on the album, and there's definite room for improvement. That said, Close Your Eyes have carved a nice niche for themselves in between punk and metalcore, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for them.

- Review date: 2/15/10, written by Timothy Estabrooks of Jesusfreakhideout.com