Another day and another metalcore record is hurled at your ears in the seemingly never-ending shower of beatdowns. In amongst all this are Lay Siege, who, with this new EP, hope to rise above all the background noise and show themselves above the rest of the pack. But is ‘Obolus’ the record to do this? Or will they descend into the quicksand-like mediocrity alongside the others?
Strikingly, they’ve got the production duties more or less on to a winner. Opening track ‘Explorer’ lets rip in all the right areas, straight from the off, with everything sounding as heavy as it needs to. Even when it isn’t heavy though, the band’s musicianship is more than enough for your ears to latch onto. Vocalist Konrad Barrick has an interesting approach behind the mic, but his splitting screams and high pitched screeches quickly make for a blood curdling impact.
Half the tracks on this EP are near enough the same length, give or take a few seconds. One of the only complaints is that this does make for a bit of a regimented listening experience, with not much in the way of variety and shape to the six tracks as a whole.
All in all though, this is an mightily impressive output given where LAY SIEGE are currently at. If they pull these songs off live with enough energy and precision they’ll definitely be well on their way to higher ground. Promising hopes for a follow up album it seems.
JAMES FOX