The Sheffield rockers have been lumped into the NWOCR scene for the past few years, though generally they’re a touch heavier, almost bordering on metalcore at times. I’ve been a huge fan for a while now, and was so pumped when they finally announced their debut album! They’ve been working with the wonderful Rob Stampede for their press, and he’s sent it us over so we could hear it early and let y’all know how much we love it. So, let’s do just that!
Recent single ‘Drag me to Hell’ starts the album off with a bang. A Metallica-esque chugging riff gives way to some awesome lead, duelling guitar melody more akin to BFMV. Joe’s vocals soon come in over the top, sounding awesome and powerful and fitting the style perfectly. The guitar noodling behind the pre is incredible, and so very Synister Gates. The chorus is massive and catchy too, while still maintaining that heavier edge. Shockingly, it drops out to a clean, quiet guitar riff and one subdued vocals for the bridge, before an absolutely fantastic, almost Dimebag-like riff comes in and sends us into the final chorus. It’s an excellent way to open the album, and a track that easily makes it onto our playlist!
Another killer riff opens ‘In Ruins’, the grooves of this album so far being amazing. The guitars drop out for the first half of the verse, leaving just Joe singing over the simple drums. It’s an awesome dynamic, and helps the rest of the instrumentation build in through the verse into another arena-filling chorus. The bridge is fun but is more of a continuation of the ideas present already in the track, not that that’s a bad thing. The attitude through the verses and the catchy as anything chorus are the real highlights here!
‘Stand Together’ honestly reminds me a lot of Crusade-era Trivium, Joe’s higher, more powerful register sounding a lot like Heafy’s. Plus, the duelling guitars yet again are so very 2000s metalcore in the best possibly ways. Of course, that lends itself to some more infectiously catchy melodies in the chorus, especially with the woh’s in the back. It once again drops down into a quieter bridge before an awesome, crushingly heavy riff comes in. This time we get a great, wah-filled solo tucked in the middle too before the band rip into an epic final chorus. It’s another excellent song, and another that makes it onto our playlist!
The double-tracked vocals of ‘If you Could See me Now’ was an interesting touch, adding a lot and an interesting twist to the Ra-like melody. The mixing on the track is awesome too, the first half of the verses being back in the mix and making the rest of it have such a massive impact. The slower paced chorus was also epic as hell, giving the track a heavier feel than I think it otherwise would. It’s a simple, slower song instrumentally, but packs one hell of a punch, almost feeling ballady. I loved it!
Tracks like ‘You Don’t Define Me’ and ‘Up in Smoke’ are all about the incredible riffs running through them, both being heavier but almost have an edge of grunge and early 2000s radio-metal to them. The attitude in the former, as well as that AMAZING, heavy half-time outro made it another massive highlight song of the album, but both tracks are amazing.
Meanwhile, the ballad tracks of the album, ‘Knight the Unholy’ and ‘Tomorrow’s Another Day’, are both incredible, emotion-filled tracks that still a bit of a bite to them despite being slower. The lyrics for the former are especially poinent, and I’d love to hear how the band pull it off live! The multiple vocals are incredible, and the almost breakdown riff in the middle is amazing. Then you have the piano-and-acoustic-led latter track, which breaks the album up perfectly and is an amazing ballad in its own right. And still, we get some awesome chunky riffing to make it all sound so massive. The band pull off either style so well, showing off just how talented they are.
The last few tracks on the album, ‘Timebomb’ and ‘Adrenaline’, are the more typical melodic hard rock that you’d come to expect from the band. Both are more solid, damn enjoyable tracks with plenty of amazing riffing and some catchy vocal melodies. They’re barely even count as album tracks; they are so good they would easily make it as singles, just like the rest of the album. I’d recommend any of these tracks to any rock fan reading this, and they’re broken apart perfectly in the middle by the ballads. Meanwhile, the closing and title track is another beautiful piano ballad, the gang vocals and strings making it feel super powerful. It ties everything together perfectly, and is a fitting conclusion to the album. I tend not to like slower tracks closing albums, but damn, this worked insanely well.
Overall: I LOVED this. I knew I would, as I love their unique sound and brand of metallic hard rock. However, this was better than anything I expected, blowing my expectations out the water. Every track is amazing, and the album has such a great flow to it, it going by in a flash. These guys are sure to be a massive name off of this, the future is very bright. I’mma have to see them live soon too, as all this will surely sound incredible!
The Score: 9/10