With typical metalcore firmly at its heart, ‘Resistant To Change | Destined To Fail’ – the new record by Birmingham based Sirens – injects heaps of originality through its reluctance to settle on a single style. Although the striking drum patterns and brutal riffs dominate throughout, the thirty minute EP/mini-album retains a celestial melodic atmosphere – perhaps most prominent on instrumental ‘The Void’, but also hiding in the background on more immediately ferocious tracks like ‘No Nature Of Mine’.
It’s this that keeps the record interesting. Just as the tracks become oversaturated with Killswitch Engage style screams, chugs and riffs, Sirens subtly add something extra. This ranges from the standard melodic clean vocal segments – perhaps the weakest moments on the record – to the carefully and sparsely used electronics, hints of orchestral instrumentation (see ‘Creature’), and an ever-present post-rock influence.
Ultimately ‘Resistant To Change | Destined To Fail’ is outwardly brutal, but it’s the unexpected flirtation with expansive ethereal soundscapes that make the record stand out. With their sound firmly rooted in metal, the intricacies of the likes of Architects and their more experimental contemporaries, and their nod to post-rock, takes this record in a refreshing direction.
Seemingly taking the title as a personal mantra, Sirens show no resistance to doing something different. Destined to fail? Quite the opposite if this record is anything to go by.
BEN TIPPLE