Hatebreed – Wonderbox Metal

Nicolas Cage Fighter – The Bones That Grew from Pain (Review)

This is the debut album from Nicolas Cage Fighter, a metallic hardcore band from Australia.

The promo blurb states that Nicholas Cage Fighter combine “ruthless hardcore, late 90s metal and death metal influences”, which sets the scene nicely for the 37 minutes of material on The Bones That Grew from Pain.

Imagine a mixture of Hatebreed, Pantera, and the groovy aspect of bands like Thy Art Is Murder and Decapitated, and you’ll have a rough idea of where Nicolas Cage Fighter are coming from. They specialise is music that takes the metallic hardcore style from the 2000s and adds in more contemporary influences.

The music is full of energy and muscular heaviness. These songs are designed for the live arena, but are well-written enough to survive outside of their natural environment. Crushing breakdowns, heavy riffs, and roared vocals are the main order of business, and Nicolas Cage Fighter know their trade well. The songs are heavy, angry, are catchier than you might expect, and are just plain fun to listen to.

I like the inclusion of ambient, melodic, and atmospheric elements into the band’s brutal sound. These are only small enhancements to the songs and only appear at select moments, but they add value nonetheless. I also really like the singer’s vocals. They’re well-performed and varied enough to hold interest.

The Bones That Grew from Pain sits nicely next to recent records by Malevolence and Cage Fight. If you are looking for an album to hit the gym to, or just something to go and break stuff to, then this is for you.

A highly recommended slab of crushing heaviness.

Malevolence – Malicious Intent (Review)

Malevolence are a metal band from the UK and this is their third album.

Malevolence play the sort of groove metal/metalcore hybrid that sounds like it should have been released in the mid-90s. If you take bands like Pantera and Hatebreed, and then throw in a touch of Crowbar, you’ll have a decent reference point for what Malevolence get up to on Malicious Intent; 38 minutes of Continue reading “Malevolence – Malicious Intent (Review)”

Cage Fight – Cage Fight (Review)

This is the debut album from Cage Fight, a metal/hardcore band from the UK.

Featuring a guitarist from Tesseract and an ex-singer of Eths, Cage Fight are here to smash your face unceremoniously into the concrete, over and over again. Prepare yourself. Continue reading “Cage Fight – Cage Fight (Review)”

Corpsegrinder – Corpsegrinder (Review)

This is the debut album from US death metal solo act Corpsegrinder.

Brought to us by the singer of Cannibal Corpse, (aided and abetted by guest musicians), Corpsegrinder contains 31 minutes of music that combines death metal with elements of thrash metal and hardcore. Continue reading “Corpsegrinder – Corpsegrinder (Review)”

Wear Your Wounds – Rust on the Gates of Heaven (Review)

Wear Your Wounds are a post-rock band from the US and this is their third album.

Featuring current/ex-members of Converge, The Red Chord, Cave In, Hatebreed, and Trap Them, don’t let these band names fool you – this might not be what you are expecting. Rust on the Gates of Heaven is not a hardcore supergroup. Rather, it’s a 53-minute journey into reflective post-rock waters, and has more in common with bands like Crippled Black Phoenix, Mogwai, Angels of Light, Russian Circles, and, yes, hints of Cave In, than any of the other bands listed. Continue reading “Wear Your Wounds – Rust on the Gates of Heaven (Review)”

Boundaries – My Body in Bloom (Review)

Boundaries are a metal/hardcore band from the US and this is their latest EP.

Boundaries are heavy. Like, crush your skull into a bloody pulp heavy. Add to this the fact that they can also write a good song, and you have a pretty damn satisfying EP. Continue reading “Boundaries – My Body in Bloom (Review)”

I Am – Life Through Torment (Review)

This is the debut album from US deathcore band I Am.

Life Through Torment is 28 minutes of aural thuggery that blends groovy heaviness with savage extremity.

Mixing 90s styled metalcore with elements of modern deathcore, this is Continue reading “I Am – Life Through Torment (Review)”

Forty Winters – Rotting Empire (Review)

This is the second album from US metalcore band Forty Winters.

This is metalcore in its original, hard-as-nails metallic hardcore incarnation, before the advent of sing-along choruses and radio-friendly unit shifters. Forty Winters mean business, and they’re here to stomp all over your breakfast.

This is angry music for angry people doing angry things. If you get off on bands like Hatebreed, Himsa, Thy Art Is Murder, Suicide Silence, Walls of Jericho, Darkest Hour and the like, then this should be Continue reading “Forty Winters – Rotting Empire (Review)”

Walls of Jericho – No One Can Save You from Yourself (Review)

Walls of Jericho are a US Hardcore/Metalcore band and this is their fifth album.

I haven’t encountered Walls of Jericho since their 2004 album All Hail the Dead, which I really enjoyed. I’m not too sure why I never got any of their subsequent releases, but at least I’m finally catching up with them again now, a mere 12 years later…

Coming from a very fertile time in Hardcore/Metalcore history, Walls of Jericho continue to play the kind of heavy, angry music that’s so effortlessly pit-friendly and easy to move to.

The singer’s angry snarl appears to have gotten even gruffer over the years since I last heard her, and on this newest album she sounds on fire with her aggressive delivery. It’s interesting, as on some songs she varies her style a bit and when she screams a little higher in places she sounds more like her old self. Which do I prefer? Honestly not sure. Her deeper voice has more drive in it but her higher one has more personality. Ultimately both do the job nicely, just in different ways.

The songs are compact and belligerent, echoing the style of fellow bruisers Hatebreed, Terror, Born from Pain, etc. only with Walls of Jericho adding their own spin on things. They seem absolutely designed to be played in a live environment, with every riff tweaked to provide maximum mosh-pit action.

Featuring a plethora of heavy, chunky riffs and enough breakdowns to snap a leg to, this is a record that’s easy to get along with.

The last track Probably Will is completely out of place and out of sync with the rest of the album, showing a definite different side to the band and the singer in particular. It’s great to hear and a great song, but as it’s so different to everything else on here it almost shows large chunks of the rest of the album in a bad light as it has much more depth and nuance than anything else on this record. The key word in that last sentence, though, is almost, as the material is strong and confident enough to stand on its own when compared to its softer side.

Overall, this is a strong return for the band after an eight year absence, and No One Can Save You from Yourself is definitely a recommended listen for when you want to feel energised and firmly want the cobwebs blown away in the morning.

Equaleft – Adapt & Survive (Review)

Equaleft are from Portugal and this is their début album. They play Groove Metal.

This is modern Metal with a modern Thrash edge and a love of all things heavy and chuggy. Think Lamb of God, Sepultura, Hatebreed, etc. and you’ll be on the right lines.

Having said that though, Equaleft are definitely at the heavier, less-commercial end of the Groove Metal spectrum. It’s clear that the band’s main focus and passion lies with the heaviness and the Metal, which is only to be encouraged of course.

The vocals are angry and flit between throaty shouts and raspier screams. I like that they’re quite relentlessly aggressive and the vocal assault does well to keep up the intensity throughout.

This is a very riff-oriented release. Now, where most bands of this ilk fall down is by an over reliance on done-to-death Metalcore riffs and too many breakdowns. Pleasingly, Equaleft don’t overplay this aspect of their sound and instead mainly concentrate on beating the listener’s skull in with brutal riffs and heavy guitars that are more 90’s Metal than 00’s Metalcore.

Another couple of areas that set them apart are those of speed and melody; they can put their foot on the accelerator when needed and also inject some melody into the proceedings. Both aspects stop the album from becoming a one-dimensional riff-fest and allow for some increased dynamics. And they also allow the heavier parts to sound even heavier, which is never a bad thing.

This is a very promising début. Groove Metal can be a tricky thing to master and Equaleft are well on their way to high levels of proficiency with this release.

Recommended.