LIGHT THE TORCH
Revival
NUCLEAR BLAST
Ex-Killswitch Engage frontman has a change of heart
WHEN HOWARD JONES’s postKillswitch project with erstwhile All Shall Perish and Bleeding Through members Francesco Artusato and Ryan Wombacher announced last year that they were changing their name, from Devil You Know to Light The Torch, a dispute with former drummer John Sankey was generally assumed to be the reason. But the supergroup seem to have embraced this natural breakpoint as an opportunity to sand down the edges of their sound, meaning that Revival doubles as the debut album from arguably the most accessible metalcore band since, well, Killswitch Engage. A voice like howard’s is a double-edged sword; so distinctive is his Speyside-smooth baritone that it easily becomes the defining characteristic of anything it appears on. Where Devil You Know seemed to consciously reject this comparison by making use of his powerful scream, wrapping it in double-time hardcore savagery, Revival is crammed with hooks and melody. Traces of the brutality remain – The Sound Of Violence doesn’t feature guitars so much as an approximation of a jet-propelled chainsaw – but the incredible groove provided by Extinction A.D. drummer Mike Sciulara, and a top-shelf production job courtesy of Josh Gilbert, push the overall sound so close to howard’s previous outfit that one can’t help becoming nostalgic for the combination of his voice and Adam D’s hyperkinetic riffs. There are enough great songs here to keep your interest – Die Alone and Raise The Dead in particular are headbanging highlights – and by any objective metric, this album is probably better than 90% of metalcore releases. But the members’ pedigree means it’s going to be held to a higher standard. It’s a nice problem to have, but one that Light The
Torch don’t entirely overcome.
FOR FANS OF: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, ALL THAT REMAINS, EXIT TEN
ROB BARBOUR