I’ve seen a few crap CD covers in my time and this has to be one of them – at least these Plymouth boys can’t be accused of spending a fortune on a cover artist so that inexperienced reviewers will be too busy admiring the packaging to notice if there are a few bum notes here and there. Presentation is more important than some young idealistic musicians would like to believe, but that said looks can be deceiving and of course the most vital thing is the music. Upon first listen this really didn’t strike me as anything great, however with a bit of perseverance I did find the tunes began to grow on me. This is undeniably modern stuff – readers above a certain age will probably have very little time for what Daggers Drawn are upto, but their sound is relevant, aggressive and enjoyable.
I like the way ‘Slit’ comes bouncing in with a fierce metallic riff, while the bass kicks out a respectable amount of power. There’s a deathly edge to the music, which is mixed up with a modern sound that can probably be traced back to the likes of Machine Head. The vocals here are deathly while there are some really tasty and malevolent sounding guitars to contend with. In places however things do take a more technical approach as they demonstrate some Gojira-esque patterns in the mix and again this has a brutal, downtuned edge. On ‘Skeletwhore’ we’re introduced to some cleaner vocals that remind a little of the Corey Taylor croon, which are tuneful and work nicely with the music. This track takes a more melodic approach with some nice sweeping guitars contrasting against a thrashing chorus, while ‘Glass Eye’ has a Slayer-esque riff which soon gets ripped up and things seem to get a bit wild.
There’s a really intriguing melody to ‘Twisted Angel Black’ and I like the clean guitar work and hushed cymbals which are quite effective. Overall this is a solid EP release worthy of your attention if you like your metal to sound brutal, modern and with a few technical touches. It’s tight and competently played and there’s enough variation to keep things interesting.
http://www.myspace.com/daggersdrawnuk
