Kev Rowland The debut full-length album from British metalcore outfit The Five Hundred is certainly gaining a great deal of positive attention. There is something about their downtuned eight-string guitars that is causing intelligent critics to lose all rhyme and reason and have been giving this rave reviews. Okay, so metalcore isn’t my favourite sub-genre of the scene, but even I can appreciate it when the band is doing a good job, but for me this lacks ideas and substance, with a singer who seems to feel that jumping between singing and shouting has great dynamic effect and impact. There are times when they slow it down and become somewhat emotional, strings being picked as opposed to being slammed, while at others they are much more like a demented Meshuggah. But, and it is a massive “but”, it all rather feels that it is more about style than actual musical ideas, and that when all else fails then simple aggression will get you through.

Really bass heavy, there isn’t enough light within this darkness to provide the relief and contrast which is required, and I was actually pleased when the album came to an end as I enjoyed listening to the silence more than I had to the actual album itself. Not one to which I will soon be returning.