Howard Jones leads the charge with LIGHT THE TORCH.
You Will Be The Death Of Me NUCLEAR BLAST
Ever-morphing metalcore supergroup stick to familiar territory
IT’S NO SECRET that Light The Torch have had to jump through a number of hoops since their formation nine years ago; however, the nucleus of Francesco Artusato and Howard Jones has ensured this metalcore supergroup’s continuing existence. One such obstacle has been line-up shifts and sophomore release You Will Be The Death Of Me sees their personnel wheel spin once more, with Whitechapel’s Alex Rüdinger joining as drummer and Bleeding Through’s Ryan Wombacher providing his last contribution before heading back to his regular outfit. Alex performs well across the album, most notably on future mosh anthem Living With A Ghost, and Ryan gives a strong foundation throughout on what has become his swansong. Howard Jones, though, is the star, reminding everyone why he’s one of the best, and indeed most consistent, metal vocalists on the planet right now, whether it’s the sonorous, arena-sized chorus of Let Me Fall Apart, the menacing screams in
Denying The Sin or the surprising impact of the album closer – a structurally faithful yet solid cover of Sananda Maitreya’s 80s pop classic
Sign Your Name.
What lets this record down, however, is partially wobbles in the production – End Of The World completely loses Howard’s opening lyrics by placing them far too low in the mix – but mainly how formulaic it is. By the time you get to
I Hate Myself you can pretty much guess where each song is going, right down to when the guitar solos will kick in.
This lack of deviation not only means differentiating songs is difficult, but they also don’t last long in the memory. Consequently, for all the talent Light The Torch hold within their ranks, You Will Be The Death Of Me is merely a perfectly functioning metalcore record without much else to write home about. ■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Killswitch Engage, I Prevail, Fit For A King
ELLIOT LEAVER