Band: Like Moths To Flames
Release: An Eye For An Eye (album)
Release date: Out now!
Like Moths To Flames are yet to be that highly regarded in the UK, which is not entirely unjust. Their debut album When We Don’t Exist was good, but not great, and they didn’t even manage to tour it on British soil, choosing to focus on conquering their homeland instead. That mission was pretty successful, so their second album An Eye For An Eye should now gain them a broader, global fan-base. As long as it’s good enough, that is.
Opening track ‘You’ll Burn’ makes for an explosive start, extracting all that was good on their debut and ramming it through the ceiling. They regularly repeat the lead riff while oscillating between a series of rhythm patterns, and it’s this simplistic idea that grabs attention. Too often do sections get over used in the name of progression, while this track is just an example of how to use one killer riff for multiple effects.
Melody is another exciting aspect of this record, particularly in the way it’s derived. Vocalist Chris Roetter is a solid harsh vocalist with a great range of pitches to compliment the metalcore genre, but when it comes to melody, he doesn’t even need to sing to achieve it. The fittingly dreamy chorus to ‘In Dreams’ is emotive and soothing, and yet his vocals are only marginally toned down in comparison to the crushing end of ‘My Own Personal Hell’. It showcases as much about him as it does about the band as a whole, but that’s proof of how they have come of age on this record.
An Eye For An Eye should be a big hit on an international level – it’s full of very well thought out metalcore with enough new ideas to prevent it from stagnating. Off the back of this, their forthcoming performance at this year’s Vans Warped Tour UK could (and should) be the key to their breakthrough in the UK. If success doesn’t follow, it will be entirely unjust.
8/10
Reviewer: Matt Borucki
