Outright Resistance are a British Metalcore band with a gratuitous offering of groove laden undercurrents. Having formed in 2011, the five piece have been going from strength to strength, garnering a sizable reputation in both their musical work and their live following, most notably having been recently confirmed to play this year’s Bloodstock Open Air festival. Let’s see who wins the fight against themselves.
Opening the album is the ominous title track “Me Vs. I” which is a heavily atmospheric, sample laden track which serves more as an intro to the following number. With a tormenting voice barking murderous intent and instructions, it descends into maniacal laughter before cutting to silence… Then it kicks in. “Maimed In Chelsea” brings that heavy, low end friendly thundering riff. With a tone reminiscent of Fear Factory but with a more metalcore influence which bears similarities to Lamb Of God, it charges on. Raw, throaty vocals which have a very primal feel to them, they bark out across the thick groove riffs which occasionally get more frantic. Whilst not quite djent, it certainly gives the overly popular genre a nod of influence given the sound.
“Prove Them Wrong” has a more powerful metalcore feel to it. With a great pace and pounding, harmonic laden and melodic progression storming ahead, it is hard not to headbang along to it. With the Lamb Of God influence burning brightly, it has that hook to it which just spells anger and mosh action. Colossal riffs and raw vocals make for a great metallic assault. In the final third, a simple melodic lead accompanies the chorus section, adding that extra edge musically and ultimately, it ends as you’d expect, on a strong final delivery of the chorus.
“Pain” begins with a surging synth sample, rumbling bassline and building drum pattern. Subtly the guitars begin to enter, swelling in presence and getting louder before it explodes to life, reminiscent of Chimaira. Hitting hard and taking no prisoners, it smashes forwards with its heavy headbang groove which would surely ignite a crowd in a live setting. Harsh growls bark the lyrics across the track with a venomous intent to them and as it powers on, it keeps the simple composition going, locking everything into that meaty groove it possesses. The bridge section has that synth augmentation, giving it a real dramatic dynamic and as it explodes into the final run, the synths remain, the double kick gets turned to 11 and the raw groove gets more intense, ending the track strong.
“Gee, Dysphoria” opens up with a pseudo thrash feel before descending into a filthy groove metal riff fest. Subtly picking up the pace, the track chugs along, keeping the heavy delivery up and demonstrating the power of their low register friendly groove metal stylings. With a slower, massive sounding chorus which has a great delivery due to the backing riff melody and some subtle lead work. The breakdown section has an intensity to it, reminiscent of death metal in the way the riffs come in and when it speeds up once again, the harsh metalcore edge returns one again for a blistering verse which shifts to the chorus once more, before a massive sounding outro kicks in.
Penultimate track, “Destiny Is All” brings a southern states groove to it, reminiscent of Pantera but with the melodic aspect of Metalcore and the filthy, heavy sound which has been present all along this track. With the steady paced groove in the verse thundering, the dynamic of the delivery changes to well spaced chords which ring out with minimal chugs before it goes back to the thunderous feel again. Basically, it’s your typical metalcore track, complete with breakdown at the end to set the stage for the final track.
“Take The Blame” is the closing number and it clocks in at nearly seven and a half minutes. Powerful rhythms surge through the track with a furious pace and delivery behind them. With raw sounding vocals acting as the lead point in the verse. Like the previous track, the majority of this is another storming metalcore assault but this time with thrashier undercurrents to it. Round the mid-section, it gets a little more interesting with a complex and twisty solo which is followed by a melodic harmony section, loaded with a sinister feel. As it rings out over the well placed chords, it adds that extra edge before ther track descends into the breakdown/djent section. With the tightly controlled chugs laying a solid foundation, a hypnotic and exotic lead comes in with some synth augmentation, allowing the track to slowly fade out, leaving just the solitary lead guitar line to finish up.
On reflection, this isn’t a bad EP. The groove, heavy tone and slight melodic edge works well for the band and you can see why they almost got to Bloodstock in their M2TM heats, but at the same time, you can see why they didn’t. There are a multitude of hybrid groove bands around at the moment, some really shine whislt others are trying to break out of their shadow… That and over the past few years, people have shifted away from metallic groove and moved more towards stoner and doom groove. Still, it’s a good taste of things to come from a band who might just find their feet soon.
(6.5/10 Fraggle)
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