Providence's Lyra is dedicated to one thing on this demo - cutting loose in the most grueling, punishing and relentless manner as possible. There's a great mix of hardcore with more prominent screamo, skramz...and yep, black metal. The one thing that detracts for some reason is the vocals don't fit all the time...and this takes away credence a bit more than expected. Family Ties is compact, clinical, loud...and then some.

There's a nice variable tone - explicitly hard in fact. The demo's dark. Grisly but very powerful. The pacing is ruthless and tracks like "What's Confidence?" and "Dreamer" accentuate the most crucial parts of Lyra' sound. If you're not jacked and fucking amped by the demo's end, then you're dead. It's quite short a demo, under 10 minutes to give an estimation, but Lyra's precision in making great noise is as remarkable as the punch they compress into Family Ties.

"Escape" channels anger and fuels the drive of the album. Sandwiched by powerful work on the kit, the drums anchor the record well. "Noose" is another reason why the vocalist shouldn't be the fulcrum of the record, but what Lyra smartly did was make the drummer even more pivotal in the closing tracks. It adds to an already strong base, but takes the sheen off vocal delivery a bit. And, smartly so, at that. Strap in for this. Lyra will take you for a helluva ride.