Heart Of A Coward - 'Hope and Hindrance' (self released) 3.5/5

It seams that Milton Keynes has got a bit of a metalcore scene going at the moment, and the latest offering from the city of the concrete cow is this debut release from Heart Of A Coward.

Now I have a bit of love hate relationship with metalcore over all, especially the recent UK metalcore acts of the past few years. While some of it has been real cutting edge stuff, so much of it tends to fall back into the same old same old metal core cliches of by the number song construction and very formulaic and tiresome clean & dirty vocal interplay. So how does this one match up?

To be honest its a mixed bag. Some tracks such as We Stand As One, Light, Nightmare and the epic closing cut of Break These Chains they do have a shed load to offer as brutal blast and smash riffage is intercut with some nice AFI style acoustic moments and sound samples to keep a good flow going and maintain interest. However in a few places such as the track All Eyes To The Sky and especially on Shade, they fall back into the pit of metalcore cliche and seam to wander aimless down the path where a thousand others have gone before. A couple of years ago this sort of stuff was cool and cutting edge, now its just dull predictable.

Still this one does have more to recommend it than not and one metalcore fans should at least check out at some point.

Worth a look

For fans of... Terakai, AFI, Screaming Eyes, We Die Tonight, The Ottawa Hoax...

Lay Siege - 'Obolus' (self released) 3.5/5

Milton Keynes hardcore / metalcore outfit Lay Siege are angry young men, but when you come from a neo-brutalist new town populated by concrete cows its only natural that the blood will boil from time to time. Now this lot have been around since 2010 and as far as I can tell this is their debut mini album.

Now there are six cuts on offer here, all short and sweet workouts in the old metallic hardcore style of things, nothing too ground breaking but all more than competently performed and penned. You get all the trade mark sounds you would expect from this sort of outfit; pig grunt vocals, a nifty selection of riffs that range in tempo from the death grind via the post Priest old school metalisms to some sweetly controlled neo-thrash, blast beat drumming etc etc etc...

OK to be honest I'm finding this one enjoyable, but to my ears its lacking a real wow factor. There's a lot of bands out there doing this sort of stuff at the moment, and there is nothing here to make Lay Siege a stand out outfit. Although I will say that there is promise on show, a couple of tracks, namely Snarling Teeth and Solitary Confinement are pretty good and show that this band could yet develop into something noteworthy. I will be watching their development with interest.


Worth a quick look

For fans of... Somnus, Screaming Eyes, Terakai, Cindersfall.....

Wornaway - 'Wornaway' (self released) 4/5

Aussie groove metal outfit Wornaway, are one of those lucky finds. I was killing a bit of time doing a bit of random net surfing when I stumbled on this little gem of an ep. They are from the city of Brisbane and as far as I can make out this is their debut release.

And what a little cracker this six tracker is. Six songs - well five plus a two minute intro track, each one a neat and nifty exercise in all that's good about the underground metal scene worldwide. We get Failure - a corking thrash and grinder that reminds me of Brum metal up and comers and Sunday Rockshow faves Zombie Xtras; The Wasted - a dark and aggressive mid tempo headbanger that has shades of Imicus about it and an excellent chill out mid section. Then there's Living Is A Dying Art - my fave track on this release which is classic Aussie rock and manages to stay dark and brutal whilst retaining a snifter of that trademark boogie sound that under pins most Australian rock. Kissed By Flames features a sweet little introduction before heading off into Sacred Mother Tongue territory; whilst closer Deliverance is a three and a half minute micro-epic that smacks of the band Metallica could have been if they hadn't fallen in love with the money and their own hype.

There is top rate musician ship on show here, the vocals are gruff and brutal, but never become unintelligible. The guitars bludgeon like baseball bats and slice like razors with equal measure, whilst the drums are as tight as Ian Thorpes swim suit after a particularly heavy lunch. All good stuff.

Over all this is a great ep by a band that shows great promise. Wornaway are definitely a name to watch out for.

For Fans of... Trivium, Zombie Xtras, Sacred Mother Tongue, The More I See...

This ep can be downloaded for FREE from - http://wornaway.bandcamp.com/album/wornaway

Cypher 16 - 'The Metaphorical Apocalypse' (self released) 4/5

London outfit Cypher 16 are an outfit that has been making a bit of name for themselves of late having toured places as diverse as the states and India as well as playing shows opening for the likes of Lacuna Coil and Mudvayne. To date they have put out a string of eps of which this is the latest.

 Now imagine if you can a mad mix of Tangerine Dream and Megadeth, and you'll get where these guys are coming from. You get walls of brain smashing metal of the first degree - all razor riffs, blast beats and relentless bludgeon, all over laid with a glorious almost ambient keyboard wash. Tracks like The Metaphorical Apocalypse, I Am Scientist and Lonely Road and all killers that stand up to repeated listening and I'm impressed with the quality of Jack Doolan's vocals. He's got the power, the control and the melody without having to resort to the cliched pig grunt or screaming.

If I have a compliant about this ep, then its a small one, a lot of the songs are very vocal heavy, and whilst Mr Doolan is a great singer with something to say, I get the feeling that on most of the tracks the rest of the band seam to be crowded out and don't get chance to shine. It's only on the track Stone that they really come into their own, and its a shame for all of them really do have something to show, especially guitarist Stuart Deards. A guy I would have loved to have heard more lead work from.

That gripe aside I really do like this five tracker and I would recommend it to everyone who likes their metal intense and intelligent.

For fans of... Awake, Spires, Fates Warning, Megadeth etc...

Get this ep FREE from here - http://www.mediafire.com/?txkmgol8jd89ilt

The Devil Wears Prada - 'Dead Throne' (roadrunner) 4.5/5

It's metalcore time again, but this time its Ohio Christcore outfit The Devil Wears Prada who are in the spotlight with 'Dead throne'. their fourth full length album.

Gotta say from the off, that this is a good record, and is better than most of the Brit metalcore that's around at them moment. It could be that TDWP are four albums into their career and so have had chance to polish their sound and delivery, it could be that with major label backing they have bigger recording budgets, it could be that keyboardist James Baney gives them a dimension most other hard and metalcore acts lack. Whatever the reason Dead Throne is a very impressive and accessible record.

Kicking off with the title track, we get some great pound and bludgeon with those delicious keyboards giving the whole thing a real epic feel, and so it continues for the next couple of tracks. The clean and dirty vocal interplay between Jeremy DePoyster and Mike Hranica is some of the best I've ever come across and even in the shouty grunty bits, you can still hear the lyrics, which no doubt will make their fellow christians very happy indeed. OK they do get a wee bit preachy in places 'I saw the light of God, walk in the light of God' etc. But I'm a great believer in free speech and freedom of faith, and TDWP have got just as much right to sing about God as Behemoth have to sing about the Devil, it don't stop me or any one else digging the music big time, and after all I suppose even angels like to form a circle pit from time to time.

Highlights include My Question with its huge stacked vocal chorus, the drifty and almost trippy Kansas with some delightful clean guitar work, Chicago with its epic build up from almost nothing to a huge wall of brutal sound, the relentless thrash out of Constance and darkly epic of Pretenders. Hell, white-metal, has come a long long way since the days of Stryper, and music in general is all the better for it.

Basically this is a great album and all wanna be metalcore outfits world wide should pay close attention, this is how it should be done. Very Highly Recommended.

For Fans of.... The Bled, Dillinger Escape Plan, Malefice, Screaming Eyes and God.