Artist: Brotherhood Of The Lake
Title: S/T
Type: E.P.
Label: Glasstone Records
It wouldn’t take a PhD graduate to figure out that anything the suffix “core” can be applied to will go in my list of dislikes. The mere mention of the word makes me shudder, and that’s before I even get to the list of things that really grind my gears; the tough guy vocals, the ignorant back-to-the-crowd stage manner, the mind-numbingly repetitive guitars…I could go on. But anyway, we’re all entitled to a bit of petty prejudice once in a while, and now that I’ve got my mini-rant out of the way I can admit this isn’t half bad.
The E.P. begins with ‘Fifty Owls in One House’ which comes at you with a series of blunt, chugging guitars and clunking drum beats that put forth a mean, hard-edged assault. This is about as subtle as a herd of elephants pounding across your back yard. ‘Blood Of Goliath’ swaggers in with a gargantuan riff that stays the course while the screeching harmonics add an edge of dissonance. It’s all very brash and heavy on the noise, although ‘This Glorious Fall’ has an unashamedly mellow feel to it. ‘The Ocean’ stays true to its name as it crashes and sways in oceanic cadence.
I’ll admit this is totally out of my comfort zone, but after a couple of spins thankfully this was passable enough not to make me want to hurl myself out of the upstairs window. It’s well played, well produced and there is a certain level of energy projected across. If you share my attitude to metalcore then this will not exactly shatter your perceptions, but for those who are a little more open to the Johnny Truants of the world, you could do far worse.
http://www.myspace.com/brotherhoodofthelake
http://www.glasstonerecords.com
Luci Herbert
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