KILL 'EM DEAD COWBOY
Marching into play with rolling drums is ‘Wake Up’, the opening track on UK 5-piece Kill ‘Em Dead Cowboy’s debut full length release. Right from the beginning it’s pretty obvious that KEDC stick to their guns and play the metalcore by numbers game, not that doing so is an instant reason for being put off. Whilst the guitar work can be pretty interesting at points, unfortunately the vocal work isn’t particularly strong on the first few tracks, ‘Silence Falls’ and ‘Save Ourselves’ especially. Another march like drum beat comes with ‘I Am Your King’ before it all kicks off into a rather slow paced riff and, I must admit, it does get your head nodding along. Catchy guitar work in ‘Beneath Those Eyes’ is a nice little offering, title track ‘I Am Salvation’ throws the momentum slightly with its slow start before ‘The Consequence’ comes back to pick up the pace. The vocal work on this song actually works quite well and, for that reason, it is probably the best track on the album. ‘Lust And Lies Spell Flashing Lights’ and ‘Dead And Gone’ almost feel like filler at some points; there isn’t a consistent standard held through this album. Interestingly titled ‘Nothing Tastes Like Skinny Feels’ has some good rhythm involved whilst ‘Knife Fights And Butterflies’ has some pounding drum work and nice clean riffing to get your toes tapping. This intensity from the instruments continues in ‘Where Flowers Lay’ and ‘Burn Alive’, but sadly it’s just not progressive enough and soon begins to meld together into one continual song. ‘The Horror’ opens with (sorry to say this) pretty horrific vocals, just not solid enough and the rather slow and tedious pace to the song makes it a rather unfortunate closer to the album. In terms of musicality, it’s pretty excellent at points but, sadly, the vocals just aren’t hitting the standards that the instruments are setting.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Lockjaw Records
Album
I AM SALVATION
Review by Siobhan Hogarty
RUNNING TIME:
51:12
RELEASE DATE:
14th February 2011
TRACK LISTING
1) Wake Up; 2) Silence Falls
3) Save Ourselves; 4) I Am Your King
5) Beneath Those Eyes
6) I Am Salvation; 7) The Consequence
8) Lust & Lies Spell Flashing Lights
9) Dead & Gone
10) Nothing Tastes Like Skinny Feels
11) Knife Fights & Butterflies
12) Where Flowers Lay
13) Burn Alive; 14) The Horror
3) Save Ourselves; 4) I Am Your King
5) Beneath Those Eyes
6) I Am Salvation; 7) The Consequence
8) Lust & Lies Spell Flashing Lights
9) Dead & Gone
10) Nothing Tastes Like Skinny Feels
11) Knife Fights & Butterflies
12) Where Flowers Lay
13) Burn Alive; 14) The Horror
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"...the vocals just aren’t hitting the standards that the instruments are setting."
