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You’d need a heart as cold as the Arctic Circle to not feel some goodwill towards Wearing Scars.

Featuring a lineup comprising three former members of Sacred Mother Tongue and ex-Mutiny Within vocalist Chris Clancy – a man whose passionate delivery and range always seemed slightly at odds with his previous band – you’ll be willing this group on before a note has even come from the speakers.

Listening to A Thousand Words is a feelgood experience, all of the various elements combining to great effect for what is an expertly crafted, melodic, contemporary heavy metal album.

Be it the Megadeth-meets-Tesseract guitar flurry of Stand Alone or the cheese-free ballad that is Heart In Your Hands, it’s just the right balance to please both newbies and traditionalists. With the right amount of push, and the good luck that has deserted them in the past, Wearing Scars could mean a hell of a lot to a lot of people. Who could begrudge them that?

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.