Well, that had me surprised, for a start. After hearing the first few bars of “Without Fear;” opening track for this five song EP, I was convinced that Neverborne had to be an American band. Not so, it seems, hailing as they do from deepest…erm…London, but the band being having been formed in far flung South Africa back in 2007. The reason for my confusion? Well, as far as it is possible, the polished, punchily produced music attacking my ears from the stereo had such a modern, crowd-pleasing edge that I was absolutely sure that they must be from the nation of 5XL trousers, backwards-caps and pick up trucks.

It’s a pretty tall order to produce music these days that combines the technical and melodic qualities of melo-death with a modern edge without falling into the trap set by a trillion asymmetrically-haired hot-topic lurking metalcore acts. Of course, among the dross there is the occasional Killswitch Engage lurking in the wings, and Neverborne, I am happy to report, are certainly in the better half of bands of this genre. So yes, there are (shudder) some clean, female vocals among the shouty-shouty yap-yap hardcore-esque vocals, and yes, some of the choruses are catchier than swine flu, but there is enough personality and quality in the tracks themselves to ensure that Neverborne are more than just a cookie-cutter clone of those that have come before them. The sprawling closer “Gone, Bye Tomorrow” probably epitomises what Neverborne have to offer than anything else on the shiny disc; powerful, chunky riffing, heart-felt vocals, tasteful soloing and a tight – if somewhat weakly produced – rhythm section.

You want some anthemic, well-written modern metal with a modern sound? Look no further. There’s certainly enough here to commend this as a release likely to appeal to fans of In Flames and Killswitch Engage, and though there is little here that you aren’t likely to have heard before, they are at least a slick and professional outfit that stand a little taller and more convincingly than many of their peers.

http://www.myspace.com/officialneverborne

Chris Davison

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