The picture on the sleeve of this 5 track ep suggests something dark and perhaps apocalyptically industrial. It’s not like that. In fact there are a number of styles here. The most noticeable quality is in the groove line. To a mostly hard and heavy metal beat, the structure of the songs has a feel of 70s rock.

After an acceptable opener, the ep takes off with the catchy “Older”. It runs on like a train on a journey. There’s a hippieness about the vocals which I first thought were female – wrong. He may sound like an aggressive cross between Stevie Nicks and Maddy Prior, but what counts is that  Amro has a good voice and puts plenty of energy into the songs. “Lost My Way”, which follows, has a similar combination of heavy riffs and a US-style rock structure. Oddly, the pattern of “Lost My Way” reminded me of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round” but not as kitsch. “I Am Me” continues in a similar vein to the next stopping point. I felt that Metasoma could have branched out here more but they chose not to, and “I Am Me” is musically and structurally interchangeable with what has gone before. The title track which completes this work is more soulful and bluesy but for me the height was reached on the second track “Older” and it never got further than that.

Although a mix of styles is admirable, and I have no gripes about the technical quality, “Metal Erosion” was neither one thing nor the other. It is worth noting that Metasoma have done well in competitions, including “Battle of the Bands”, but for me after a promising start, this left me cold.

(5 / 10 Andrew Doherty)

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