Artist: Frontlines
Title: Demo II
Type: Demo
Label: Self-released

Hot on the heels of Frontlines’s first demo, about which I enthused, is Demo II. This is another solid, old school style chunk of deep mid-paced groove metal. It’s more sludgy and Americanised than I remember the first one. It bashes the brain but lyrically couldn’t be described as to taxing as “All Within” is growled to death. For me the selling point is the controlled quality of the riffage. There aren’t so many twists and turns but there’s always a funky rhythm. “All Within” and “Conquer” both break loose from the tight grip towards the end with a flowery guitar solo. “Contaminated” continues the punishing, heavy beat without losing the sense of rhythm and melody. I wouldn’t describe it as exciting though. The groove remains on “Wrath of Man” which deviates with an impressive Doom section towards the end – this style suits the band well. I wasn’t entirely surprised to see the band has connections with Doom bands Mystic Grave and Seith. It’s the dark groove line which characterises Frontlines the most.

Basically, this 16 minute demo is as solid as a rock. There’s nothing fancy about it at all. It’s heavy and it’s groovy, man.

http://www.myspace.com/frontlinesmetal

Andrew Doherty

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