Ecleticism

Brutality Will Prevail at the Chameleon, Nottingham

It’s Sunday bank holiday and people are travelling from all around to a tiny third floor venue in the centre of Nottingham with structural worries and a distinct lack of professionalism. The headliners, the Welsh downtempo hardcore dudes known as BWP, are set to destroy.

Last minute replacements for the youth crew punks in Think Twice, Go Fast or Go Home were certainly entertaining, their relentless 1 minute circle pit thrash being broken up with a super hip hop song. Whilst plagued by quite bad sound and relentless feedback throughout, the otherwise encouraging openers set the mood nicely for the bands to come. 5/10

Local band Strike Team’s catchy blend of hardcore aggression and metal orientated frills and flourishes worked perfectly, Sam Lyndsey’s supremely tight drumming holding together a set extremely refined in sound and in performance. This band are so tight that it’s hard to pick one fault in their entire set, and they really deserve a lot more attention than they currently get. 9/10

Crossbreaker impressed with a decidedly evil take on heavy, low and fast hardcore - driven with a slightly progressive edge. Their sound was crushingly heavy, with walls of guitar chugs blasting the audience. While the crowd often didn’t have a chance to get involved as the band mindfully avoided moshy sections throughout their set, the final progressive song was received well by a hardcore crowd. 7/10

Brutality Will Prevail. What more can be said of a band with one of the best live reputations in the UK hardcore scene. Whilst ever moving away from the moshy sections that popularised the band in Forgotten Soul, the crushingly heavy vibe that the band evoke thoroughly still gets the crowd going. With the whole room moshing, pushing and sweating, the singalongs in such songs as Heavy Eyes were truly epic, and the heaviest of heavy sections delivered through a tremendously huge sounding set up sent swathes of violence through the room. 9/10

After the bands, as everyone set down and loaded out, the social and friendly family that encompasses the hardcore scene really came to the surface. All smiles and friendly faces, bands talked to fans and friends hung around rather than leave straight away - many went to an aftershow party hosted by a local band member. The show really finished as an encompassing social event and gathering, rather than simply the performance of a few bands and the silent dispersal of everyone involved. This to me is one of the best things about the UK hardcore scene, that there is a truly dedicated base of people willing to put on shows and support the scene who are friendly and genuinely nice guys.

Dead Ends - Heights

I was intruiged by Heights’ EP, The Land, The Ocean, The Distance; I saw an emerging young band who hadn’t quite found their sound yet, and somehow managed to be quite formulaic over the course of three songs. There was, however, hints of real talent and I have been ever anxious to see the direction the band would take with their debut album. It is clear their sound has matured into something “rockier”, in the sense that there are more straight riffs and defined sections rather than buildups and breakdowns.

The album kicks into gear on a very high note, as after an atmospheric intro, Eye For An Eye pummels the eardrums into submission with some heavy and unique riffery, tight structuring and an expansive final section which soars to some serious heights (no pun intended).  Directly after, however is the somewhat lacklustre Oceans, which somehow follows almost the exact same structure as the previous track, but with none of its ease and finesse. Here a formula begins for the album. Some super powerful riffs and expansive buildups thrown in alongside very mediocre and outright boring sections. While the production is top notch (although possibly a little bit too perfect and clean – especially in the drums) this can never rescue the music, and songs such as Lost And Alone and Forget (which puzzlingly seem to revolve around the exact same two chords, as well as Endings, later in the album) are quite boring and have nothing in particular that stands out to me.

Halfway through the album, I begin to slump. Thomas Debaere’s vocals, while aggressive and powerful, begin to grate on my ears. He has one gear and he sure sticks to it. The simplistic, in-the-pocket drumming does nothing to interest me, the riffs begin to bore. It becomes apparent that some of the formulaic nature of the EP has transferred to the album: Thom’s mechanic of repeatedly screaming lines over softer sections and on into the climax of songs seems to surface at least four times. Three songs revolve around the exact same two chords. Two songs have exactly the same structure. Beneath The Skin caught my attention, with promising soaring lead sections and a more interesting rhythm section, but proved only to be a 1.30 filler song. It cut short super abruptly as well, which confused me, as the song had real promise.

Dead Ends doesn’t live up to my hopes for Heights. Their sound could have really become great but in the end they produced a lacklustre album with few highlights and little to reward on repeated listens.

4/10 - Standout tracks - Eye For An Eyes, Beneath The Skin

Frozen Affliction - A Vengeance Most Hideous

Super heavy, super epic Nottingham deathcore dudes Frozen Affliction have released their first song, and with super top notch production it appears they aren’t messing around. This band seem like they’re willing to put in the money and effort it takes to get big, but is the material good enough to support it?

A genre over populated with samey, monotonous bands, deathcore is seen by many as boring and well past its sell by date. It’s great, then, for a band to bring something original to the plate, and this is, for want of a better word, epicness. There is something ultimately grand and majestic about A Vengeance Most Hideous, and while a lot of this appeal no doubt lies in the masterful production with beautifully heavy guitars, immensely tight and extensively triggered drums - which I personally am not a fan of but with as with music at this speed is sometimes necessary for consistency - and a very strong vocal performance. The writing, however, is also top notch. With solos abound and some huge soaring riffs and sections, the music really does elevate itself to some high levels - as a song of 6 minutes 43 seconds by its nature should. 

Some deathcore staples are to be found, such as crushing breakdowns, faster, more melodic technical riffing and the tried and tested Black Dahlia Murder section: the harmonised tremelo picking section found towards the start of the song. These sections are not overbearing, however, and are done very well, regardless of their clichéd nature. The song brings together these immensely heavy sections with softer, more melodic (even clean in places) sections with ease. 

With a song of this quality as a first release, I can’t help but be excited for what is in store with Frozen Affliction. The only issues that spring to mind are that it may be hard to keep producing music of this style without becoming formulaic and repetitious, and that in a live environment, without super production, will the songs be able to hold their own?

9/10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zVMZLZfpME

Lower Than Atlantis - World Record

World Record is Lower Than Atlantis’ third release, and it is obvious that the band wish to make a commercial success out of their music, but not at the expense of the material. This record is meticulously structured and cleverly written with a mature sense of genre and scope – Lower Than Atlantis have certainly carved a unique, yet accessible and radio friendly sound for themselves on this album. Moving from Bretton, a somewhat Converge-esque frenzy of punk fuelled aggression and disregard for genre quickly onto a much more user friendly listen, Lower Than Atlantis found an immensely rewarding mixture of hardcore aggression and catchy hooks on Far Q. Moving onto their second full length would always be a challenge. Could the band maintain a quickly fading punk presence and keep the music fresh?

The album flies out of the speakers with a wonderfully paced opener, and sure to be radio hit, (Motor) Way Of Life. Here the standard is set – tight, fast paced structuring and aggressive yet catchy with Mike Duce’s individual vocal style and phrasing lifting the songs out of the ordinary. Shouted, un-pitched vocals are few and far between on this album, if they are to be found at all, but Duce’s aggressive tones suit the music perfectly. It is obvious that the song writing is highly developed, everything works and the pacing of the songs is great – this really stands out on tracks such as (Motor) and Uni 9mm. The musicianship on World Record definitely adds a great deal to the experience, with wickedly tight performances all around. The drums especially create a huge deal of the momentum throughout the album, being often intensely complex but always wonderfully tight and well played, this is evident in Uni 9mm, where the drums carry the opening of the song forward. Later into the album, after a slightly clichéd but nonetheless well crafted ballad in Another Sad Song, we get a glimpse into the punkier side of LTA with Marylin’s Mansion. Faster, looser, with more feedback and humanity behind it, this song is more of a throwback to the band’s now distant punk heritage. After this the album drops back into a now familiar tone with verse-chorus-middle 8 structures. Even the short bursting 1.47s Bug adheres to that same structure. Late into the album it becomes apparent that Lower Than Atlantis have written 12 very similar songs, and it begins to grate on me. The tight structuring and similar chords and ways of progressing them get boring and I lose interest. R.O.I. brings the album to a finish, and gladly it has a vibe of its own.

Some might say the album is coherent and works well as a whole, and I agree with them totally, but when originality and experimentation is sacrificed to create a coherent album, all the songs tend to be interchangeable and samey. To know what World Record is about, all you really need to listen to is (Motor) Way Of Life and you’ve pretty much heard everything you need to in order to gain a picture of the whole album.

Lower Than Atlantis have produced a very refined and catchy album sure to gain them a lot of publicity and air time in a more mainstream environment with World Record. The songs work well together and stand out tracks such as (Motor) Way of Life, Uni 9mm and Beech Like The Tree really are amazing songs and raise the album above average, but as a whole, for me, the album would begin to bore me on repeated listens, purely due to its lack of variation throughout.

7/10

Rinoa - An Age Among Them

The regretfully now disbanded Rinoa’s ‘An Age Among Them’ is, in my opinion, one of the standout releases from a somewhat hyperactive progressive metal / hardcore scene in the UK. With their previous self-titled EP heralding great things to come from a band with former members of Crydebris and Chariots, Rinoa really reached a pinnacle of mature song writing in just two releases. While many bands still struggle to find their sound by a debut album, Rinoa truly defined their own niche in progressive music and ran with it.

An Age Among Them really feels like an album, and this is one of my favourite things about it. Each song in it’s own right is structured meticulously in an evolving nature - though not always following the generic post rock crecendo cliche, I hasten to add - and the album as a whole works flawlessly, each song contributing its own mood and style, whilst never straying too far from the extremely characteristic uplifting sound that I can only desribe as ‘Rinoa’.

What it is exactly which defines this incredible sound I find it hard to pinpoint. Sweeping, huge sounding soundscapes brimming with atmosphere and emotion. Expansive yet understated clean sections akin to post rock. Intense distorted sections that really rack a huge punch, thanks in no small part to the genuinely incredible writing that is consistent throughout. The minimalistic yet often intricate drums only ever seek their own attention when appropriate; the beautiful sweeping clean guitars never steal the limelight; the heart wrenching vocals accentuate the agressive and intense distorted guitars perfectly; the bass is also minimalistic, mainly following the guitars. No one musician on this album seeks their own end: all their efforts are directed to the atmosphere, mood, and beauty of the album as a whole.

It is geniunely very hard for me to find something negative about An Age Among Them. Even the production compliments the album perfectly, sparkling and clear yet agressive.

An Age Among Them is a masterpiece of progressive music. An essential listen for anyone who considers themselves a fan of melodic hardcore, post rock, post metal or anything at all. A journey though epic, emotional and expansive soundscapes and into crushingly immense climaxes, none too overworked, none a let down, no sub par sections. A rewarding listening experience in every sense of the word.

10/10