Wow these guys are pissed off. I realise coming from Wales can have its pitfalls, what with the piss poor football and fields full of sheep (No more stereotypes I promise!), but this Swansea six piece must have had their porridge stolen because this is metalcore at its most brutally riotous and well, shit. With six members I suppose it is no great surprise that they manage to create such a loud din, but most of the songs are so muffled it is rather difficult to actually tell what is going on, and after a torturous journey of ten tracks, even the possibility of watching Lee ‘Sloth’ Trundle play for the Jacks seems appealing.
From start to finish there is a certain enigma covering the band as the duel vocals of Willis and Dexter, shout and scream their way through to the end and when I use those terms, I mean them in the most literal sense. ‘Capitalise on This’ for example actually features a good prolonged run of screaming with nothing else but the cacophony of instruments in the background. Surprisingly it doesn’t quite work. Various effects are also used throughout certain tracks to give it a fairly decent atmospheric edge but compiled with everything else on offer it doesn’t quite come off. There are a degree of saving graces though in tracks such as the strangely infectious and pounding ‘Beaten Down, Rising Up’ and the strong ‘The Big Sleep’. But once again both are unfortunately plagued with the problem that faces all as the production is less than appealing to the ear and although there are some tidy riffs and arrangements in there, the feedback and distortion melts it into one big mess.
Weather I have missed the point with this release, I don’t know. If there is some meaning behind it, some message, let me know, otherwise it just sounds plain rubbish. Lately I have heard a lot of this type music and how it can be played and how it should be done to a certain extent, and this lot just don’t pull it off well enough which leaves the foul stench of abject disappointment in the air. To sum it up, it is complete dross.
Jay
www.blackeyeriot.com
Undergroove Records