20 « February « 2018 « The RingMaster Review

An encounter which just grows in strength and persuasion with every listen, the self-titled debut album from Welsh metallers I Fight Bears is an ear grabbing statement of potential and success. Brewing a healthy blend of the familiar and fresh, it is a declaration of a band with all the weaponry to make a potent impact on the British metal scene.

Hailing from Bridgend, I Fight Bears draw on the inspirations of bands such as Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, and Lamb Of God for their voracious sound. It is not necessarily the most unique proposal you will come up against yet each song within the band’s first album has a freshness and adventure which commands attention. Since emerging around two years ago, the band has stirred ears and praise with their singles and a live presence which has taken them alongside the likes of When We Were Wolves, Skies In Motion, and Perpetua. Predominately self-recorded by the band itself with Micheal Paget (Bullet For My Valentine) involved on some songs for both mastering and mixing, their first album is a big nudge at richer and thicker attention and instantly makes a potent impact.

It opens with the mighty Hammers, melodic enticement and hungry rhythms instantly to the fore before it all unites for a rapacious and inviting enticement. A great blend of throat scraping and clean vocals grab their own healthy portion of attention soon after, the excellent mix matched by the predacious craft of the rhythms and creative weave of the guitars. Infectious and intimidating, it is a great start to the release; as suggested familiar and new imagination entangling in magnetic success.

Upcoming single, Envision, follows sharing melodic vines which maybe are not the most original but make a tasty appetiser for the blossoming enterprise of the song to flourish upon, again vocals captivating at the heart of the creative web. As the guitars weave, rhythms pounce with an anthemic touch, fiery grooves and spicy hooks latching onto their intrusive swing. With a touch of Avenged Sevenfold to it, the song hits the spot before making way for the band’s current single, Lost The Fight. The track’s roar is unleashed on a snare of grooves and sonic temptation, their enticing bait laid on the more volatile but no less gripping lure of the rhythms. I Fight Bears have a multi-flavoured surge of sound at the heart of all songs and maybe none as compelling as that fuelling this very easy to devour proposal, especially as it grows more predatory by the minute.

Design And Purpose carries that intrusive intent into its following proposition, beats and bass a grumbling trespass soon bound in melodic strands with their own imposing touch. Vocals blast the mix with a raw emotive breath, the song a predacious assault before opening up its melodic dexterity as clean vocals again provide a superb contrast matched by the endeavour of the guitars. As imposing and catchy as its predecessors, the track is a just as inviting lead into the band and its sound, quickly matched in that quality by Life Of One. Another smart weave of styles and sound bound in an adventurous intent, the song a swift and increasing captivation epitomising the band’s craft in songwriting, performance, and imagination.

It is fair to say that next up Disposed did not grab our ears as dramatically as those before it, surprises less open yet it is a richly satisfying and intriguing encounter with vocals once more especially magnetic before Trust thrusts its rousing prowess through ears. Rhythms harry and punish the senses as raw vocals graze their surface, an appetite stirring mix only enhanced by the melodic and harmonic tenacity of guitars and the cleaner side of the two pronged vocal persuasion. Barbarous yet seductive, the song is superb and only escalates in captivation with every subsequent twist.

From the cantankerously wired Exhale, an incendiary slice of metal with a hardcore lining that is as irritable as it is infectious, and the senses crushing tempest of Smoking Gun, the album hits another high spot to rival its early plateau. Both songs are a cauldron of what the band does best and right to the fore of our favourite moments, their might leaving System a task to bring things to a just as potent close which it does with its own corrosive furnace of enterprise and power. The trio alone leave ears and pleasure full with a hunger for more in close attention.

With the realisation of their inescapable potential and a real vein of individuality, I Fight Bears could become a real presence within the broadest metal scene. Their thickly enjoyable first album already declares the band one exciting prospect on that British landscape.

The I Fight Bears album is out now.

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Pete RingMaster 20/02/2018

With already a rather potent reputation for their voracious live presence, UK outfit Of Legion offer the fullest introduction to their hardcore ferocity with debut album Face Value. Enticingly irritable, enjoyably raw, and emotively abrasive, the nine track trespass is a potential rich suggestion of a band carrying all the qualities to make a lingering mark on the British hardcore/punk scene.

Emerging in 2015, Stoke hailing Of Legions have evolved a sound which could be said to have found its true roar around the release the following year of second EP,. They have continued to hone it with essences of metal, rock, and punk blossoming within and as evidenced by their first album, though it still feels like it has a way to go to fulfil its potential, it is a sound that has grown into one ear grabbing, imagination stirring proposal. Alongside, the quartet has further earned increasing plaudits with a live presence which has seen them share stages with the likes of Gideon, Desolated, Silent Screams, Liferuiner, Martyr Defiled, TRC, Machete 187, Continents, and Brokencyde. Now it is Face Value looking to push the band’s growing presence and fair to say it makes for one hefty invitation to ears and awareness.

The album’s title track opens things up, Face Value looming in from a distance with heavy coaxing riffs and crisp rhythms; already that multi-flavoured mix of sound grabbing ears. Once in full view, the initial vocal blast from Luke Mansfield triggers a rapacious surge of sound and emotion but one which prowls rather than violates to great effect. Swiftly it is all over the song brief but a great start setting up a real appetite for the rest of the album which the following Let Loose soon feeds. It instantly walls ears in a tempest of intensity and noise, the scything swings of drummer Nath McCue full of ill-intent next to the thick grumble of Ollie Lewis’ bass. With Mansfield venting with emotive passion, the guitar of Sam Morrey casts an enterprising web of intrigue and animus which just grips attention, the four way combination uniting in another two minutes plus of creative animosity and pleasure.

La Familia is another which prowls the listener, its threat and energy in check but fully felt as riffs and rhythms badger rather than strike the senses. With hungry hooks and rhythmic imagination at its centre, the song easily keeps predictability away before Worthless springs a bedlam of acidic grooves, vocal discontent, and rhythmic voracity. It similarly twists and turns with adventure and tenacity, blending familiar essences with real imagination carrying Of Legions individuality.

Grouchy bordering on choleric, Scum crowds and bullies ears next, Mansfield leading its corrosive holler with his throat scraping outpourings. Yet at its core is the most irresistible of grooves which inspires a similarly infectious lining across all traits as it leaves the senses withered, even more so with its final bearish incitement.

Even in their individuality, all songs to this point have their seeds in recognisable hardcore beddings but with Suicidal Thoughts the band really push themselves as progressive lined melodies and atmospheric intimation envelop ears as vocals share emotional scars. It is a compelling start which develops into a melodic rock/punk stroll, Morrey colouring it with some great fiery yet suggestive melodies. Leaving food for thought and a whole new current of potential flowing from the band it is another inescapably enjoyable moment within Face Value.

With the adversarial and constantly shifting dynamics of No Loyalty and the bullish rock ‘n’ roll of Hard Time, the album only confirms its potency if neither track quite stirs personal tastes as forcibly as other songs. Nevertheless, each only builds on the blending of styles the band embraces before Wormfeeder brings things to a close with its snarly intrusive quarrel. With death metal essences in its barbarous and suffocating tempest, the track is sonic pestilence and so easy to willingly succumb to.

Face Value is a great next step in the Of Legions’ growth, yes there are elements which might not grab as much as others but its promise is undeniable as too the enjoyment it delivers.

Face Value is out now.