I was utterly gutted when Stampin’ Ground decided to call it a day but luckily I caught their final tour and hoped that the guys would start something else up or reform later. The former was true as Adam Frake-Sime and Ben Frost more or less started up Romeo Must Die straight away much to my contentment. The mixture of hardcore and metal is not something that either genre of fans finds comfortable. Personally I like the mix of bounce riffing and straight metal melodies with the odd beatdown.
The band has already released “Defined By Enemies” in 2008 and toured on the back of it. Said release had some similarities to SG whereas the new album sees the band establishing a niche and identity for them as the acoustic title track opens the album rather inauspiciously. “Let Them Hate” is more like it with a groove metal riff and plenty of anger in the vocals, complete with the predictable sing back line of ‘hate hate’. “Time – The Great Vivisector” veers away from the groove angle and injects a tamer approach with clean vocals, as the music is firmly metal here. Macho posturing rears its vested chest on “Survivors Club” with a heavier beat and solid pace. Few of the songs venture beyond a melodic thrash style and if anything the album needs to be speedier and have more variety.
“15 Minutes Of Shame” has a burst of energy and a better structure with its bouncy beat. Having seen Adam belt out his vocals with considerable stage presence and charisma in SG the guy also does the same in RMD and whilst I found a bit of this album a little tepid in places I expect the songs will be far more potent in the live forum. “Slow Motion Catastrophe” has a good build up using a catchy modern thrash riff that is not too far from old SG I guess. One thing about this album, and quite whether it’s because my copy is a promo I’m not sure, is the sound level is very low compared to modern productions meaning it had to be cranked up a fair bit to get some impact.
If I’m a very honest I was a bit disappointed with this album and not because I was hoping for SG style metal but more because the tunes are a little insipid and begging for something more, quite what I’m not too sure as a song like “The Rust Of Life” is a formidable metal song with tons of bounce and a catchy beat. Whatever I think I’ll still be checking the band out on their UK tour which starts at the beginning of May and I suggest if they hit your town then check them out as they are extremely enjoyable to watch.
http://www.romeomustdie.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/romeomustdie
