Mendoza are all about the riffs. They clearly worship at the church of all things metal and there’s more than a little James Hetfield about Matthew Eckersley’s vocal style, even if the music itself isn’t too similar. This is their latest EP and as the band are already gaining a little bit of ground in the UK scene, you could be forgiven for assuming this record is fantastic. Sadly, it’s not. It’s good but not great and, like a lot of recent records I’ve heard, lacks the consistency to make Mendoza a band capable of making a great big dent in the UK scene.
At times the band’s ideas just don’t convey very well on disc. The vocals on ‘She Corners Like She’s On Rails’ are all over the shop as the backing shouts are at the same level as the lead vocals and it comes across as messy. It happens a couple of times during the length of the record and I’m not sure if this is a production issue or sloppy musicianship from the band. On the plus side at times they really do sound good. ‘One in the Barrel’ is all about the riffs, but also has good vocals and a nice breakdown to build things up again,
Mendoza are on the right lines but are still some way from being the finished article.