Mix intensity with alternating cheer or gloom, and you can sum up Flyleaf. It's worth a listen on imeem.com, at least.
The music alternates from cheerful to gloomy, as I said before. (You'll notice, I am sure, that I wind up writing like this a lot) It's got catchy tunes and nice guitar (I'm no expert, it could be another instrument) and I find the singer's voice wonderful, and the lyrics are often cheerful, if you listen right.
I give it a 4/5, like everything else, and I'll be listening to it for a while.
P.S.: Yes, I know what "memento mori" means. If you don't, Wikipedia will oblige.
The Famine is an intense Christian metalcore band, among the likes of Demon Hunter and Haste the Day. It's a decent band in terms of technical expertise, but their music shines above average in intensity and the depth of lyrics.
The songs focus on the theme of gluttony and vice, and the drawbacks of such behavior. It's got a overall dark and unhappy tone, but has impressive instrumentals backed up by good lyrics, and the song titles don't hurt any (unless "Consume, Devour, Repeat", and "Death Threat" are too dark) when it comes to conveying the intensity of the message and sound.
A 4/5, though it can be a bit of a culture shock for people accustomed to lighter music (When I started listening, just as when I started listening to Demon Hunter, it seemed incredibly dark and angry, until you penetrate the shell to discover the meaning.
I'm a mite of a metalhead, between the time when I'm listening to classical or video-game/soundtrack music. So, naturally, A Critique of Mind and Thought by A Plea for Purging came to my attention, so I gave it a shot.
It's a bit on the repetitive side. But, all in all, it has a cheerful sound for some of the songs, which is unusual for the metalcore genre it falls into. And totally incomprehensible lyrics detract from some of its value to casual listeners, but with enough practice or with a good cheat sheet, the religiously inspired lyrics can make sense.
I'd give it a 4/5, but I give everything a 4/5. Also, since it's repetitive, it'll have to drop to a 3/5, due to the fact that it sounds like the same thing over and over.