ALONE WITH WOLVES

If you are a purveyor or fan of modern metalcore/post hardcore bands then Alone With Wolves and their new five track EP, 'The End Of Nothing', is going to be shooting its way to the top of your wants list. For a band of this genre they display huge amounts of melody, bouncy songs, catchy choruses, very good musicianship, great production and I suspect Kerrang and Scuzz will be all over this like a bad rash. So far, so good...yes? Unfortunately, this EP also contains the two things I'm personally not keen on when it comes to this genre of metal. Firstly, the press blurb describes Alone With Wolves as "accessible, yet original". Accessible maybe, but this is far from original. Granted, there is very little around nowadays that is, but there are too many metalcore bands of this nature and they all sound very similar. Secondly, what spoils this for me, more than anything, are the harsh/screamed vocals from Lewis Watson. Lewis, unfortunately, does nothing for me at all. His voice is all one level screaming, same pitch and no diversity. It just sounds like he's had a bad accident. Now, I'm sure he's a nice guy but, as vocals go, his are not my cup of Earl Grey. That's actually a real shame because clean vocalist Danilo Fiocco, whilst not being wholly original, has a very good voice. This dual harsh and clean vocal thing is also very overused these days; Danilo could easily carry these songs by himself and that would actually give Alone With Wolves a more individual sound. As it stands, Alone With Wolves are an above average metalcore band and 'The End Of Nothing' a reasonable EP, but nothing that makes the hairs on my arms stand up. It's just too formulaic for the genre, even if it is well played. It's also a shame that the very good and comprehensive booklet is slightly spoilt by a spelling mistake that should have been spotted before going to print.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Self-released

EP

THE END OF NOTHING

Review by Rick Tilley

RUNNING TIME:

19:49

RELEASE DATE:

1st Sept 2014

TRACK LISTING

1) Cutting Ties
2) The End of Nothing
3) My Life in Your Hands
4) The Change
5) With You in Mind

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

UK

"...there are too many metalcore bands of this nature and they all sound very similar."