Though formed in 2014 it is the last eighteen months or so that the buzz around Welsh metallers Black Water Chemistry has really intensified. It has been a time where the band itself says that they have been “working tirelessly to cement their style and increase their fan base”, success of that intent in the first aspect now strikingly heard within and in the second poised to be ignited by new EP Return To Ashes.
Tagged as metalcore but with much more to its template of imagination and adventure, the Black Water Chemistry sound is a cauldron of aggressive energy and inventive enterprise. It has maybe yet to breach the walls of true uniqueness but as the four tracks within Return To Ashes shows, it has an individuality which is as memorable as it is unpredictable. Formed by blood brothers in vocalist Matt Saunders and lead guitarist Chris Saunders and completed by bassist Gizz, rhythm guitarist Murph, and drummer Dan, the Newport hailing quintet embrace inspirations from the likes of Architects, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Chelsea Grin, August Burns Red, Mastodon, and Periphery to their creative breast. They are strands of influences which light up the band’s sound but more seems to spark Black Water Chemistry’s own individual endeavour.
The EP opens up with new single Oracles. Instantly ears are under a barrage of predacious rhythms but equally are wrapped in a wiry mesh of grooves hunted by ravenous riffs. Vocals come with matching force and attitude but soon reveal great diversity as clean strains alternate and unite with throaty squalls. Already that richness of sound within its metalcore breeding is working away, enticing and intriguing as simultaneously other aspects trespass the senses. Evolving through more placid but no less gripping moments before the track’s rock ‘n’ roll explodes it is an outstanding start and appetiser to the fresh impetus in the rise of Black Water Chemistry
The Last Iconoclasts follows, it also making a striking entrance as guitars and rhythms concoct a web of rabid temptation before vocals roar and croon to create the song’s very own lure of unpredictability and imagination. The punk ferocity of its predecessor is accentuated within the second offering as too its raw metallic animosity, the song prowling almost stalking the listener at times and seducing them with melodic elegance and angst in others.
There is no let-up in the great mercurial attack of the band’s instinctive imagination and feral enterprise within next up Masterstroke. The song is borne of a more heavy rock/melodic metal seeding but again an untamed but skilfully crafted maelstrom of extreme metal nurtured ill-content. Grooves and riffs tease and nag as rhythms stalk and bite, every twist and turn an ear luring confrontation before the EP concludes with the hellacious fire of its title track. If the last song nagged in certain ways, its successor simply harasses, rewarding its imaginative malefaction with a beguiling entanglement of senses infringing adventure and unexpected twists and turns; at times roaring like a natural union between Periphery, Bring Me The Horizon, and Reuben.
It is a fine end to a release which will surely thrust Black Water Chemistry forcibly into much thicker and eager recognition and attention. Excellent from the off and even more striking by the listen Return To Ashes is a wake-up call to the UK metal scene fuelled by a potential which will conceivably take the band beyond those boundaries.
Return To Ashes is released August 31st.
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Pete RingMaster 29/08/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
It is a thickly impressive start with a touch of bands such as Mastodon, Exodus, and The Sword to it though hues in something far more individual to URNE; a trait just as potent within the following creative drama of The Lady And The Devil. Essences of doom and occult metal join the more classic swing of the track as it gets its instinctive groove going alongside the enticing clean tones of Nally, the dark brooding in his bassline a great tempering to the fiery air of again a track which masterfully and imaginatively evolves.
The following Space To Breathe is just as swiftly imposing but inviting, taking a less invasive stance initially as its elements settle before uniting in its own ferocious trespass. Ash’s vocals again impress with their not vast but strong diversity within the emerging rich tapestry of sound. There are essences of bands like Spineshank and Static X to the track at times but equally it lusts after death and extreme metal textures with the same fervour and invention before the superb Split In Two uncages its own similarly but individually woven tempest. Harsh and melodic strains in both vocals and music make an easy union as the imagination in songwriting incites their drama, the track continuing the explosive success of the first pair ensuring that Hollow is already a riveting proposal.
Bastardized follows with its own ferocious incursion, snarling and blistering the senses from its first breath before sharing a more nu-metal natured breath with a touch of bands like Spineshank to it. Snapping and jabbing at ears, the track springs toxic contagion and intense discontent within an atmospheric melody stranded weave; seducing whilst preying on the listener before Wiretap uncages its own ferocious animus with instinctive catchiness and melodic suggestion at its core. There is a whiff of Deftones meets Architects to its growing body but to be honest as all hints offered to tracks, the Hostile Array sound absorbs and turns all in its own individuality.
As opener Cry Wolf explodes on the senses, instantly there is no escaping the rapacious presence of band and song, and indeed the magnetic tones of Le Rox. Her attack is as urgent as the sounds around her with a hint of ‘desperation’ to its lilt though really it is just an earnest bred eagerness to stir things up, again just as the individual garage punk sound Pretty Pistol unleash. Riffs and rhythms collude in devious persuasion, getting under the skin as forcibly as the flying hooks and that glorious verbal trespass. There is a touch of Asylums to the track too which only adds to its virulently striking presence and to be honest if the goodness stopped right there we would still be urging attention the EPs way.
The Sand In The Hourglass, The Life In My Lungs instantly makes for a compelling affair, the resonance of drummer James Hart’s first swings ringing around the enticement of guitar before driving the blossoming track with boisterous energy as vocals and sonic imagination brew their winning persuasions. Swiftly there is a freshness and spark to the song less noticeable in its predecessor, its character and imagination bold with a fire in its belly which erupts with lava-esque intensity. Short and voracious, the song grabs and firmly retains best track honours though the EP’s title track soon makes for an eager rival with its infectious nature. Though it misses the keen creative invention of the last track it makes up for it with its rich catchiness and eager energy aligned to that natural flair in sound the band seems to have.
The EP’s best track is quickly followed by a just as compelling offering in Solis. From its first breath, ear gripping grooves work their bait, vocals a caustic alignment as rhythms pounce with aggressive tenacity. Harmonies and melodic flames add to its brewing temptation, punk scowling similarly infusing the adventurous tempest. As the first, it gives suggestion of a real appetite to push their boundaries, the band not content on just repeating the well-received but less individual exploits of their first release.