Source: EP Artwork
Up and coming alternative metal band Novacaine Nothing from London have produced the EP Noughts and Crosses which is their first major release.
They combine different metal genres within their songs but overall have a grungy tone embedded in each song. This is particularly evident in the first song of the album ‘Kill you’. Opening with deep aggressive vocals screaming “I swore I would f*#!ing kill you” leads to a high intense opening with low powerful guitars coming across as dark and brooding if not a little creepy.
Lead vocalist Jason Leungs’ vocals vary between forced breathy whispers to strained speech as well as deep echoing roars. Switching between all of the vocal styles makes you uncertain of what’s going to come next and that’s the idea of the EP. Nothing is clear cut and defined neatly, you hear the nit and the grit of it all with intense guitar riffs and chaotic drums like in ‘Generation’.
The melodies are purposefully ambiguous and ambient with the mixed sense of major and minor keys so you never know where you are, but that doesn’t matter. The repetitive brooding melodies hook you in and allow you to hear the pain and the angst from all the members of Novocaine Nothing like in ‘Smiling.’
This aggressive and powerful grungy EP gives you a release for the negative emotion you have with punchy low guitar riffs, manic rhythms and eerie vocals.
