There has been a potently growing buzz around UK metallers Brutai since the band’s inception around 2007/08 and listening to their self-titled EP it is easy to see why. Consisting of five explosive and adventurous tracks which reap the seeds of numerous styles twisting them into their own melodically coated fiery sound, the release is a stirring declaration from a band you sense has an even bigger fire inside their creative depths. It is maybe not an EP which quite has the passions raging though it comes close often but certainly it has them and an appetite for the band’s presence fired up and keen to discover more.
Earning a good reputation through their live performances and first release, the three track Becoming Alpha EP of 2009; the London based quartet has evolved a melodic metalcore centre into an invigorating force soaked in rapacious imagination with the new release. Featuring Xerath drummer Mike Pitman, who stepped in for the recording when the band’s drummer left, the EP brings in deep intensive flames of varied flavours to wrap and entice their sound. It makes for a collection of songs which are adventurous and dramatic with plenty to hint that Brutai could be a tour de force of the future. Definitely there is enough to set the band apart from the majority of melodic metalcore bands emerged over recent years and arguably some of the more established ones in the UK, but also they have an imaginative flair and riveting breath to their music which leaves rich intrigue and a lively appetite for their presence and future.
Opening song Flood takes little time in capturing the imagination, the vocals of Felix Lawrie an aggressive antagonist from the track’s first
breath backed up rigorously by his scything guitar strokes and those of Henry Ryan. It is a forceful and attention grabbing entrance which flows into an incendiary journey of sound clad in commanding rhythms, inventive guitar enterprise, and the prowling ever pressing bass craft of Michael Crouchman. With an imaginative intent to the song which never settles too long in one stance but seamlessly twists and turns in on itself and the listener’s assumptions, and an impressive diverse mix of vocals which merge squalling and clean deliveries for an enthralling confrontation the track is a scintillating surge of superbly crafted sounds.
The following Alpha is a less explosive start but one which is soon inciting and crazing the senses and thoughts with a further excellently sculpted blaze of unsettling mouth-watering ingenuity. Whether down to the promo sent our way or the actual production, the song loses its strength through a shallow lifeless glaze which defuses a great deal of its strengths though the band still manages to impress in every aspect apart from production. Sleepers though has things back on track, its opening melodic seduction an evocative embrace which gracefully caresses the ear whilst the guitars steer in a sinew clad rhythmic presence and a sonic enterprise as colourful as the song’s energy of the song. It is a mighty fusion of muscular provocation and melodic beauty which on a par with the opener leaves a want for more the overriding response to its resourceful persuasion.
Straight Silver does not find the same height of satisfaction as other songs which is a little surprising as again Brutai carve out excellent patterns of skill within an imaginative adventure, the track persistently shifting its attack and enterprise with fluidity and transfixing craft, though there is something missing to enslave like other songs on the release like the closing Onyx. The final song is a rapacious storm of energy and hungry urgency which explores senses and thoughts like a carnivorous puppeteer, every rhythmic poke and sonic entanglement a precise and explosive tempest of ideas which moves towards a latter platform where the track can soar through slower and sultry melodic climes, once more showing the expanse of the band’s songwriting and exploratory intent.
Brutai is destined to great things you can only suspect given the quality and strength of their EP. It also shows there is much more to come from the band which is just as exciting as the sound they unveil and thrill with on the release. Ultimately it is a record which suggests we will be getting excited over future Brutai exploits such its unbridled promise, and the anticipation of that is already awakened.
http://www.facebook.com/brutai
8.5/10
RingMaster 01/11/2013
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