North London metalcore crew Shields return with their latest EP Guilt. A call to arms that is surely set to give them some good footing on the metal-core/tech-metal ladder. The steady ambience of opening track ‘I’ve Dealt With Worse’ is shattered just short of a minute in as Shields show exactly what their true colours are. The listener is quickly battered into submission on a track that is intense but also splattered with a pure sense of melody. A strong opening that quickly pulls you in and leaves enough questions for you to carry on listening to see what else the band has to offer.
‘No Hope’ carries on in a similar vein to the opener. This is seriously heavy but also quite accessible which is no bad thing. The production is fantastic and really gives the band a bite that we’d be interested to see if they can pull off live. The combination of aggressive vocals and clean melodic vocals may be old hat now but Shields pull the balance off well never dipping their toe too far in to make it get too cheesy. Something we have seen happen many, many times over the years and very easily done.
Title track ‘Guilt’ is also the stand out song on this EP, gifted a ferocity and sense of urgency that is beyond the bands years. As the EP carries on you notice that the band have a blueprint for their music and although it may move off slightly on the opening of EP closer ‘But This Feels Worse’ they never stray too far from that sound. We are not saying this is a bad thing. How it would work over a full length album remains to be seen but the five tracks here make for the perfect length for the listener not to get bored.
All in all Guilt is a very strong EP. There may be many bands similar in the UK right now but Shields stand high above the pack. We’d be very surprised if this doesn’t create great things for the band in 2015.
