The disc actually starts off on a good note. Everything, while certainly not the best song around (With lyrics that can be heard fairly consistently in most any genre of music), does offer the disc a pretty solid introduction, especially musically. The disc does slip a bit on Awake, but, overall, the first two songs offer the disc a bit of hope and promise to build on.
Sadly, the band doesn't build on that hope and promise. The middle portion of the disc is anything but promising. Last Goodbye, When Tomrrow Comes and the title track (among others) offer the same old Pillar. Where there was hope for some musical growth there was instead none. Putting these tracks in with the entire Pillar collection and hitting shuffle, you would not be able to discern that these tracks are from a new disc. And, for Pillar fans, that's not a bad thing. But that lack of growth is what continues to hold this band's full potential back.
One positive is that there are some songs where lyrical depth begins to grow. Angel In Disguise is a great story-telling song, and it's a though-provoking lyric. Sadly, the song horribly lacks musically and vocally. What could have been a truly amazing song falls into mediocrity.
It seems as though the band cannot mix lyrical depth and musical depth together. For example, arguably the disc's top track, Resolution, is held back from being truly great because of lame lyrics. The music is intense and excellent. But the lyrics kill it. And the vocals are decent at best. Even when the vocals click, such as on Sometimes, the lyrics once again drag the song down. The inherently less edgy sound on the song actually works, but the lyrics ruin it.
Can anything good be said about this disc? Yes. Though none of the songs manage to take all three aspects and mold them together even decently, normally at two out of the three are there. This is certainly an improvement over previous Pillar discs, which normally managed only to hit on one of the three aspects. The lyrics are significantly better on a few tracks (Though overall, the disc is still right on par with most other Pillar discs lyrically. If it is better, it is only slightly). The music, for the most part, is solid. The vocals are consistently weak but show signs of promise on a song or two.
Overall, The Reckoning is exactly what is to be expected of Pillar, based on the previous discs. Fans of the band will adore this disc. People who can't stand them will despise. People like myself who really want to like the band but can't seem to do it will continue to see this band for exactly what it is: A band on the fringe. A band that has a lot of potential that it still, for whatever reason, refuses to tap into, choosing the so-called safe route to please the fans. Next time, Pillar, take a chance with your music. You might just open yourself up to a whole lot more people.