by Eduardo RivadaviaSince first emerging out of Sacramento, California, towards the end of the 1990s, metalcore outfit Embrace the End has experienced a significant sonic progression in tandem with their intense musician turnover. The group's first EP, entitled It All Begins with One Broken Dream, was released in 2001 through Dark Vision Records, but their inaugural full-length, Counting Hallways to the Left, arrived only in 2005 through Abacus. Vocalists Jesse Alford and Pat Piccolo, guitarists Joel Adams and Kyle Dixon, bassist Ryan Lewis, and drummer Bart Mullis subsequently endured several touring slogs across the U.S., but this clearly took a toll since only Alford and Mullis were still willing to carry on with Embrace the End by the time they returned to California. Nevertheless, they somehow managed to secure a new record deal with Century Media and the resulting sophomore album, Ley Lines, was recorded with the help of guitarist Chiris McMahon, bassist Addison Quarles, and showed Embrace the End becoming increasingly adventurous by fusing math-metal intensity into their already technical metallic hardcore.