Metal | Post-hardcore | Rock | Sludge metal
65%
Produced by Jonny Renshaw and Devil Sold His Soul. Engineered and mixed by Jonny Renshaw. Recorded at Bandit Studios, Gloucestershire. Mastered by John Dent at Loud Mastering, Taunton.
I asked my three children, just based on the look of the album cover, “Does this look like it’s going to be a good album?” All three (aged, six, six and four) said “No”. I think they were only partly right. But it’s not the music, once again it’s the vocals I take issue with.
The music is interesting. It has depth, it has dynamics, it has other things that begin with ‘d’. The music is built around the guitars: big chords, big strumming, a nicely overdriven sound. In places the guitars are clean and picked which produces a nicely layered sound. The bass is punchy, the drums sit beneath it all cutting though in all the right places. I love the music: it’s bold and modern.
In places the lyrics are sung; Ed Gibbs has a nice tenor voice. But for the most part everything is SHOUTED. But it’s not the good kind of shouting. This isn’t the gruff vocals of a Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth, ex-Bloodbath) or D. Randall Blythe (Lamb of God), it’s the uncontrolled shouting of a worse-for-wear girlfriend bawling at her drunk boyfriend at 1.00 am outside a nightclub.
And that’s where my issues lie with this album. To my ears, I would go as far as saying, the songs are ruined by this style of vocals. And that’s a real shame.
I have to say that I realise that there will be people out there who love this style of vocals. I accept that, and I want to be clear in saying that the vocals aren’t rubbish they are just in a style that is not for me.
That said, I want to hold on to this album. The music is great and where the lyrics aren’t completely shouted from start to finish (like in the final track, “Hope”) I really enjoyed it.
They often say that the devil has all the best tunes. Well, clearly here he’s sold his soul or something. A great pity.
Review score: 65%