If a debut EP achieves anything it should at least be a determined effort to give the world a kick up its backside.Ireland’s Three Hour Ceasefire sound like they have strapped on their hobnail boots for the attempt and taken out their collective frustrations on that vile institution that we so blithely call humanity. But will that dreadful, shambling mound of corruption, war and disease turn its ugly head and take any notice?

Well, these boys can play and if the opening jackhammer sound of Time Of The Empty Throne is anything to go by they will be hard to ignore. If being Irish has any relevance here it is only that their influences are nothing of the sort. Becoming distracted for a moment, I struggle to come up with more than a handful of well known Irish heavy metal bands. Yes, Primordial, before you say it, and then a few other ones with fiddles and pipe players… (…Moving swiftly on before someone sends the boys round to correct me.) From Entombed to Hypocrisy the Swedish scene is a clear influence and the men from Limerick pull out every tried and tested death metal trick in the book and wring it by the neck until it screams. The sting in the tail is the hardcore disposition that most obviously comes across in singer DC’s machine gun vocals but also the occasional song writing nod such as the intro guitars on Trial of Wounds.

I think there are several things to take away from this. Firstly, there are obviously some very angry people in Ireland at the moment and judging by the state of their economy that should not surprise anyone. Secondly, if bands this good are struggling to be heard above the crowd, then the current global metal scene is extremely healthy and long may that continue. Thirdly, that Ireland’s underground scene perhaps warrants more attention despite my rather unkind and most probably uneducated analysis earlier.

There is clearly something of an explosion going on there right now and even a brief saunter through the scene reveals above average levels of quality (whatever happened to the excellent Devil Theory, by the way?). A very heavy, very solid performance from Three Hour Ceasefire who have set themselves a decent bench mark. Keep ‘em coming.

(7/10 Reverend Darkstanley)

http://www.threehourceasefire.com