Plymouth. Famous for many things – not least of which is being associated with the lovely noun Argyle. What it is not particularly famous for is its collection of heavy metal bands. Transgression, therefore, from the before mentioned city, may have the accolade of being a future flag bearer for all things metal in those southern climes.
There is a lot to like about this release. I could mention the particularly impressive guitar work, which manages to wrangle between heavy, ultra chunky riffage, and delicate melodic death metal licks at the drop of a hat. I could also mention the deft drumming, the nimble underpinning bass work, or the eyebrow-raising quality of the production – which in itself has a modern, crisp sound that is easily comparable with many of the larger bands in the scene at the moment. The songs on this five track EP are also a real blast – well written, to the point, with plenty of vicious melodic death metal goodness, at times hearkening back to the very early, angular days of At The Gates, interspersed with some (and I cringe while I write it), breakdown laden metalcore elements.
So what's not to like? Well, alas, I find the vocals extremely distracting. We have one singer who has the barely pubescent boy scream, which is about as attractive to the ear as hearing a dog set on fire, bizarrely intermingled with a deep (almost goregrind gurgling) death metal voice. It's certainly ever so slightly incongruous with the rest of the music, but then this is a young band that has already done well to achieve all they have. With some more time (and hopefully a less irritating vocal delivery), Transgression certainly have the talent and the ambition to become future big players on the British metal scene.
http://www.myspace.com/transgressionuk
