Expect Resistance is the first full-length to follow this Bristol band’s 2008 six-track EP, Hooked On Revenge. Formed in 2006, these boys started life as a covers band, but that is a distant memory now apart from the influences they pull on.
While noticeably English in style, thanks to their frontman’s slavering dirty punk vocals and some angular modern fretwork, they also embrace the more American metallic sound-slabs found in the likes of Earth Crisis. That said, brief interlude The Illusion Of… takes a striking War Of The Worlds turn with a pondering piano and crisp spoken word courtesy of Trial’s Greg Bennick.
The musicianship is tight and each song distinct and memorable too, largely thanks to the unusually gritty vocals painting each song in rousing rebellion. Hell, there is even a begrudging semi-chorus in Shadows and it still doesn’t break their credibility. Meanwhile, fast-paced, heavier tracks such as Arkansas, although metal in spirit and awash with screaming guitar solos, are seeped in a positive hardcore energy that suggests just how much fun they will be live.
