These Epitaph newbies have gone for the sound of Papa Roach in a blender with the spirit of Warped Tour metalcore for their debut. Opening track Spin The Bottle is a bizarre mash-up of breakneck, death metal-inspired verses and a nu metal chorus. It almost sounds like a different band to the following Striking Matches, with its groovy opening riff and a Pierce The Veil-like verse that indicates the strength of vocalist Paul Rose’s mid-register clean vocals.
The rest of the album continues in this vein, bouncing between melody-driven sections, like the piano-led ballad Are We Innocent, and electronic nu metal fuzz such as the chugging Bellow and Good Enough. Cages’ attempt at social commentary – ‘These cages keep us separated/They turn us into something we’re not’ – is a bit wet but if Cover Your Tracks’ goal was to spruce up nu metal for the young, modern listener, they’ve given it a decent shot.
