About five years ago, I would have talked endlessly about how great metalcore is. The constant beat-downs, machine-precise kick drums and over-fondness for a hearty “oh!” were the definition of heavy music as far as I was concerned. Fortunately I’ve wised up a little bit since then. Not long after, I realised that the genre had become over-saturated, unoriginal and lazy by default. With the exception of a few extremely talented bands, most new music came off as either well intentioned but sub-par attempts at reinventing the sound or just cynical cash-grabs.
Fast forward to 2014 and the ranks have thinned, leaving mostly just the biggest names, such as Killswitch Engage and Architects, and a few promising newer bands such as the exceptionally technical Napoleon. That’s where Set To Break come in, albeit quite a bit later to the game. The Bridgend five-piece, formed in 2012, have put together a six-track debut EP that harks back to Metalcore at it’s biggest point. Unfortunately, rather than coming off as a pleasant reminder of the genre in its Hey-day, ‘Redemption’ just feels like a time capsule from when the style reached saturation-point.
If you’re familiar with this kind of music, you will know all the stops on ‘Redemption’. The EP begins with a reverb-soaked intro track that promises dynamic shift into a stomping chug-fest. From there it picks up the pace for ‘Made To Suffer’, the most aggressive song of the bunch and a clear nod to Parkway Drive which continues through the rest of the track-list.
Other than a slightly calmer, lead driven, yet still Parkway-reminiscent penultimate track (‘Khan’), the EP puts its cards on the table very quickly. After the first six or seven minutes are through, there isn’t a great deal of variation from what came before and a loose formula emerges:
Riff; beat-down; two-step section; slightly more dissonant beat-down – lather, rinse repeat (always repeat).
The lyrical clichés aren’t difficult to find either. Lines like “Fuck you, you’re nothing to me” are great for gang vocals but even so, they’re tiresome, unimaginative and really could come from anyone.
With all due respect and fairness to Set To Break, this EP is a strong first effort in the context of metalcore – it sounds tight, both in production and performance, and it runs on what might as well be a checklist for what makes the style work. But unfortunately for them, the sound is played out (very justifiably) and lacks anything to innovate beyond what has being going stale since the end of the last decade. The result, while well made, is lacklustre and uninspiring.
2/5
‘Redemption’ by Set To Break is out now on Imperial Music.
Set To Break links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Ben Kosma (@BenKosma)
