Andrew Danso

This is hardcore at its most rootsy, bent on capturing the brutality of the verse and thinly sung chorus. It’s interesting to hear the kind of impact Meshuggah are having on metal in its modernity, as more and more bands turn to an eight stringed assault outside of the Swede’s experimental bubble. But with a twist, Confession often riff on their lowly strung guitars throughout the verse, and pep up the choruses with the strumming of chords, layered with a specific vocal style, which goes a long way to characterise crummy teen dramas – indeed the contrasts here are stark.

It’s almost like Oceano and Sum 41 spawning a lovechild, but only on the special circumstance that the child can go completely bonkers in one second, and then on the flick of a switch, become crummy and fragile; Houston we have a balancing issue. It’s not an original or artsy style that you need to familiarise yourself with – In Flames’ recent material combines the two on the less extreme, Trivium the same. The problem here is the extent of polarisation that’s happening. The nigh Meshuggah down-tuned assault, eclipsing in a Blink 182 chorus isn’t designed to read well, never mind sound good.

Better to forget about quantum time signatures - this is truly the stuff you’ll want to scratch the back of your eyes over.

3/10 Powerplay #140