TrenchHead - Belligerence 21/1/2013

TrenchHead are a slam metal band that used to be around from around 2003 and then broke up in 2007 and played in bands such as Prowler and noted deathcore/metal botherers Annotations Of An Autopsy. After a 6 year hiatus they have dropped their new EP "Belligerence" which marks a slightly more mature approach from their earlier EP releases (the aptly named "Medical Murders"  having song titles that looking back on it make me cringe slightly, but that's asides the point)

The new EP is a ridiculous hodge-podge of slams, clean guitar work and some of the gnarliest drumtones i've heard in a long while. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I for one are happy to see them back and filling the void of UKDM that bands like Embryonic Depravity and early Ingested have left by either breaking up or going down a more metal inspired route. It sounds like what would happen if Trigger The Bloodshed put the Despised Icon on vocals.

1.  Patriach To Origin - opening on a JFAC sounding guitar tone and some classic blastbeating with a good deathcore gang shouting thing, it's a good start to the album and will probably set the tone for slightly more interesting approach to the normally tried and tested (not a bad thing) "bass bass slam bass" approaches that some of their peers have.
2. Abgenation - starting with an appropriate hardcore BLEURGH noise and going straight into a straight-forward hardecorey sounding vocals over more wiggly guitar, it reminds me a bit of like the better bits of the first Winds Of Plague album.
3. Landscape Of Thorns - that drum/guitar combo at around 1.47 will send people into a wave of nostalgia who miss bands having a big build up into a breakdown, and the resulting haunting guitar feedback and wailing made me think a bit of TEOAT before they got fucking shit.
4. Belligerence  - a good opening for the long hairs, and continues to keep that hair-whipping beat up for pretty much the whole song, and the guitar solo at 1.58 and resultant gangshout of "one of us, who doesn't give a fuck" is pretty sweet.
5. From Beyond - A good closing track that reminds me a lot of Great Depression era TTB or that weird middle track on Genesis by JFAC that has the spooky fade out. 

 
 Whilst it doesn't exactly blow me away and makes me sort of miss the old ridiculous slammy riffs, it's a more concise and interesting effort with the standout track definetly being Abgenation. It's a pretty solid release with a lot of time and thought put into the song structures, which kept me guessing and proves that you can't sort of predict where the songs are going to go which keeps it sort of fresh and exciting.

I'd give it a 8/10 for profiency and an extra +5 coolness for moving away from the original slamminess but keeping it up with some awesome guitarwork and making the vocals sound super crisp which is sometimes a rarity for metal bands.



 
listen here yo

owen
xoxo