Boris The Blade - Warpath

Boris the Blade release Warpath on 27th January. Named after Snatch's arms dealing gangster, you probably get that your not going to be hearing romantic odes to Florence Fanny or whoever. No these guys are a Deathcore band full of anger as violent intent.

Warpath

The albums title track Warpath, is also it's opener. Psychotic glitches and relentless heaviness drive  the track. An eerie melody underpins the all out battering of a great title track packed with machine gun double bass, groove elements and anger.

Second track,Backstabber, starts with a more atmospheric slow feel, but when the vocal smacks you in the face you know you're listening to Boris the Blade, soon your head is spinning with tech metal runs and black metal melodies. It is a bit stop start in places, which put me off my stride a little, but then contains a glorious breakdown and second passage with a vocal performance Corey Taylor would be proud of and lyrics that Jonathan Davies would give you a blowy and a cheeseburger for.

Misery is in a similar vein to Warpath, another relentless barrage of aggression, with interesting changes in dynamics that flow into each other well. But directly after is Nihilist, which has a high impact opening full of atmosphere and punch. I like the way this track, in it's own way, gives you a break from the battering ram of heaviness. It's a creepy, dark number which stand alone is my favourite so far.

Omens is dark, extreme and abrasive and has the addition of a rapped/spoken word bit that reminded me of I Am Hated by Slipknot. It was a highlight of a track that unfortunately I didn't quite get up to that point.

As soon as Paralysed opened up I started to think, 'this is more like it'. A track full of drive and direction, brutally bludgeoning in a satisfying sadomasochistic way. Great drum work, guitar parts that are varied, skills up and melodic and heavy like a sledgehammer. A song that had my attention from beginning to end.

Thorns, in a similar vein to Nihilist, breaks things up a bit. Whilst it can't be accused of not being heavy, it includes more mellow, ambient parts which sound like they could become an epic 20 minute tour de force. But that's not what these fella's do. No wanky flouncing, just moments of serene melody cut short by grievous intent! And you wouldn't want it to be any different.

Devastated opens up with electro noises and machine gun bass drum. Again bringing an eerie ambience in droves, underpinned by the increasingly impressive drum work. Whereas Elixir follows the same paths as previously trodden on the album in terms of the heavy underlined by melody formula before the battering ram intro to Solace begins the end of the album.

Conclusion

By this point I am feeling battered and bruised! Mostly in a way like you might after lasting 12 rounds with Tyson! It left me with a great feeling, like I've had an outlet for my aggression and anger, but also wishing there was a knockout earlier in the fight. Whilst it lacks a track which stopped me dead and made me replay again and again the album as a whole is a great listen. It is full of good songs, excellent musicianship, and a vocal performance that is sublime in its anger and directness.

It should be a popular pick for Deathcore and Extreme Metal fans, fans of Technical Metal (some of the musicianship is simply incredible). I could also see it as a great feeder album into the more extreme side of the metal genre for those dabbling on the fringes. I could easily see a Slipknot maggot picking this up and having a eureka moment. It carries the right balance between melody, brutal belligerence and sinister intent to speak to a wide audience. And an album that can help broaden the horizons of music fans is worth its weight in munitions!

You can pre-order it here or via trusty old Bandcamp, and while your waiting for it, if these guys are new to you, go and check them out on Facebook.

We Are Tyrants - They Can Rise Again

We Are Tyrants are currently on a hiatus for various reasons, but are aiming to assault our ears again towards the end of this year.

And when and if they do return we should welcome them with open arms because.... well basically they're really, REALLY fucking good.

They are a Melodic Death Metal band, (us metal heads can be a bit precious about sub genres so i'll await some abuse and correction) hailing from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

They're last line up according to facebook was Benjamin Wright on Guitar and Vocals. Harry Petcher on Guitar, Connor Lench on Bass and Kelsey James on Drums and Vocals.

The Music
What hits you straight away about this band is they are all clearly class 'A' musicians, without exception.

The vocals performances stand out as a really strong point. From Satan summoning, sphincter losening, stop or I'm going to shit my pants, deep guttural screams to well performed clean melodic vocals with harmonies. They display them all and everything in between.

As I listened to their songs in preparation for writing this I constantly thought to myself "this band know how to compose a song". Although a simple statement, when I say this what I mean is every song has impact, musicianship, complexity, diversity without ever losing direction, melody AND aggression.

What more could a metal fan ask for? I hear you ask. The answer? Nothing, and I don't care what sub genre you like.

We Can Rise Ep

We Can Rise is a very professional sounding release. A haunting intro leads into you being smacked in the stomach by "We are the Gatekeepers of the Matrix" a fast, aggressive song which is an excellent introduction to the album.

With tracks such as Last Dream, Monolithic and the above Gatekeepers, the Melodic Death Metal attributes are whole heartedly embraced with varying time signatures, speed riffing with melodic lines, double bass galore and impressive vocal performances, a theme throughout the entire album.

The albums title track, We Can Rise, has more clean vocals than the previous tracks and may be a bit more accessible than other songs. That's probably why they named the album after it! After an awesome build up intro to the song it is strong throughout but really comes to life for me when the bluesy solo begins.

There are also nice reminders of other styles and influences.

Tides of Virtue has a very Trivium feel to it for me, however benefits from a slightly more edgy, attacking approach making it far more listenable to my angry ears.

Blood of the Yew shows a bit of a groove influence in parts and has a very impressive range of vocal styles within it display.

They have also released the excellent track God Live In Me with the following lyric video. This track shows even more progression in song writing and performance.

Conclusion

I'm a bit gutted to have found We Are Tyrants whilst they are not currently on the circuit. However I hope they do come back and continue where they left off.

I also hope in reading this and listening to the tracks you get to  bandcamp to download the EP and head to facebook to like their page. That way if and when they return they do so to a whole group of new fans.

If they don't return, then they should be proud of their output.

I am Jonny the Music Blogger.

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