Hard rock quintet Flyleaf released a third album, “New Horizons,” a title indicative of the band’s uncertain future. Lead singer and new mother Lacey Sturm has announced her departure from the band to focus on family. Sturm’s exit is timely, as the band’s music, and “New Horizons” in particular, has been played out. Heavy guitar riffs are carried over from previous stylings, but much of the album’s pacing languishes in slower, wannabe Paramore tracks. The lyrics fail to provide enough variety and the rapid-fire momentum shifts, popularized by “All Around Me,” are woefully absent. Listeners must slog through nine of the album’s 11 tracks to reach “Green Heart,” the album’s singular distinctive song. Flyleaf’s formerly alternative metal sound has softened, a pity as the band once tested the boundaries of mainstream rock, rather than conformed to them.

Grade: D