Band: Beartooth
Release: Sick (EP)
Release Date: Out Now
Beartooth are a new hardcore metal band, hailing from Columbus, Ohio. With this EP the quartet seem set to take on the competition in their genre.
The opening track comes in hard with an 18 second repetitive but heavy intro before the front man, Caleb Shomo comes in with his screamed vocals. At times these seem to fall out of time with the speedy drum beat carrying the song, until 1:36 into the song when there is a glimmer of hope for the rest of the EP. The vocals start to portray more of a punk tone, resembling The Used. This lasts for about 30 seconds before they launch back into the hardcore style they started with.
‘Go Be The Voice’, the second song on the album, opens with static and could potentially work better as an opening track, however the scratchy guitars lead into a heavy vocal of mixed screams and singing. This is something that continues through the song, the mixture of vocal styles making this track better than the first.
The third track, ‘Pick Your Poison’, also has more of a build up than the first opening with a quiet guitar and drum intro before it gets heavy. This track features a lot more melodic vocals, as well as a Slipknot-esque screamed refrain. The guitars towards the end also have a very similar sound to the Iowa metal Gods. the very end then proceeds to merge perfectly into the final song.
‘Set Me On Fire’ then follows much of the same tone as the first track, being slightly heavier than the two middle songs, although the music behind the vocals are softer making it easier to listen to. It ends abruptly, and suitably for the feel of the rest of the album, on a nice long scream!
If heavily scream-based songs are your thing, or you’re into Slipknot, blessthefall, Bring Me The Horizon and the like then go ahead and check this out! And for the rest of you rock/metallers once you push past the first song, it’s still worth a listen.
6/10
Review by: Jenna Young
