Sometimes it’s just nice to know that I’m not a purely reactionary, over the hill ageing metal head with an ear for the traditional and old school. Adust have just reaffirmed my belief in the possibility of exciting new English bands being about. Having endured some dross at the unsigned tent of this years Bloodstock Open Air festival, I was beginning to wonder if there were any half-decent new bands out there at all.
Adust have unleashed this, their second EP upon the world, hot on the trail of some industry buzz, being a band in the ascendancy. Hailing from Birmingham, Adjust are clearly sat well within the more modern branches of heavy metal, though they haven’t thrown the baby out with the bathwater. For every subtle and effective use of electronica on the EP, there’s a corresponding killer riff, soaring guitar solo or pounding drum break. With a sound seemingly born from an unholy coupling of the muscular melodic death metal of stadium titans Arch Enemy and the tempo-bending dynamics of Chimaira, the crunchy, crisp sound of ‘Losing Faith’ and ‘The Evil That Dwells Within’ provide solid, head-banging fodder. It’s not all break-neck moshathons however; the plaintive ballad-like introduction to ‘Vicious Cycle’ allows vocalist Rob Pease to ease up on the razor-blade shrieks and flex his clean voice, until everything goes bat-shit mental.
Criticisms, you say? Well, here and there it’d be nice to have a slightly more punchy production, and the ‘fast-bit / slow-bit / clean vocal / harsh vocal’ dynamic does get a little tiresome from time to time, though these are but churlish observations on what is otherwise a mightily impressive release from the brummy lads. With a little more polish, and perhaps a bit more concentration on the production, Adust have a chance to make it into the next division – in which case, I may just buy a season ticket. Impressive.
http://www.myspace.com/adustband
