Are metal albums like busses? You wait ages for a decent one and then three come along at once!

This is getting silly now. I like a bit of metal every now and again, but I don’t think I have ever listened to so much in such a short space of time. The problem/not the problem has been so many very good albums in a short space of time. Already this week I have adored Bonnie Trash’s ‘Mourning You’ and Architects ‘The Sky, The Earth & All Between.’ To this we add ‘Ghostwriter’ from The Five Hundred.

There is a double punch of tracks in the middle here of ‘NEW WORLD’ and ‘IN THE DARK’ that just absolutely takes your breath away. Both are as good as any metal tracks you care to name by any metal band you could think of… And these are far from the only decent tracks on this album. Then you start wondering why are these guys are not right up there on the Download Festival bill and selling out a major headline tour? Has it just got that hard out there? Is the music market just that over-saturated? Is it that hard to connect with an audience that I am sure is out there for stuff this good?

It baffles me. Anyway, they are playing at The Face Bar in Reading on the 14th of March with Red Method. I will be down there enjoying myself and being thankful that I am not having to battle it out with 9,000 others in an arena venue which music this good was meant for and absolutely should be filling.

A quick look at the video above and their website shows you they take the metal vibes very seriously with major attitude, all black clothing and many, many tattoos. They come from Nottingham and absolutely mean business. What is perhaps surprising given all those credentials is just how utterly tuneful this album is as well. There is absolute intensity here… but there is also a huge amount of melody. The vocals are stand out but the shouting and screamo elements are dialled down in a lot of places and are more traditional heavy rock than much of the music would suggest you were going to be getting. There are elements of metalcore and bits of progressive metal, it all blends seamlessly into an electrifying whole greater than the sum of its parts.

There are also some great guest spots from a range of interesting talent. Siamese, Aaron Matts, Charlie Rolfe and Justin Paul Hill all pop up on different tracks and bring something extra to the party. This is clearly a band who enjoy bouncing ideas around with others and appreciate the art of collaboration.

This album is brilliant and once again, if you are a metal or heavy-rock fan, this comes highly recommended. Now enough please. No more decent metal albums until Sleep Token resurface with their next one, as looks likely given the weird website that has popped up. Otherwise, I am going to have to rename this site Reading Metal Life!!!