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Nasty verse, sticky sweet chorus: this formula propelled Killswitch Engage, Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine into the limelight and it’s what’ll stop Kent’s Spreading The Disease getting there. Their debut LP contains pockets of promise. Connor Snyder’s screams ride atop waves of vibrant, melodeath-tinged thrashing and solos and Save Me is the pinnacle of this. There should have been an entire album of this. Instead, tracks are saturated with karaoke Corey Taylor impressions and dead-serious lines like ‘Nothing’s wrong with me, they just can’t handle me.’ Nobody’s expecting Tolstoy, but come the fuck on, lads. It’s just a bit… muddled. Reciting The Lord’s Prayer on the otherwise-decent and cleverly titled Brexit Wounds is another fudge, although the record is salvaged by Last Goodbye’s ramshackle rumble. They’ve got a way to go, but hey, their drummer’s called Jack Apella…

Alec is a longtime contributor with first-class BA Honours in English with Creative Writing, and has worked for Metal Hammer since 2014. Over the years, he's written for Noisey, Stereoboard, uDiscoverMusic, and the good ship Hammer, interviewing major bands like Slipknot, Rammstein, and Tenacious D (plus some black metal bands your cool uncle might know). He's read Ulysses thrice, and it got worse each time.