For a band that’s only been around for a year or so, Bailer make quite the first impression. This Irish metal/hardcore four-piece throw fearless songwriting, colossal riffing and boundless energy into the mix on their debut EP ‘Shaped By The Landscape’, that smartly utilises every second of its run time.
While only a brief record, it departs as quickly as it arrives, making its statement with precise efficiency. It wastes no time with labouring any of the points, or dragging any songs out unnecessarily. It’s sharp, smart and ruthless; the sound of Beartooth at their most aggressive, with shades of Cancer Bats in some of the chord structure. A devastatingly large sound from only four people.
From the southern stomp of ‘Failsafe’, with its Corrosion of Conformity-esque groove, to the mosh-inducing candour of ‘Anti-Venom’, Bailer demonstrate a hearty balance of headbanging melody with evenly distributed aggression. Culminating in the deeply downtuned and creeping epic, ‘The Benefit of Doubt’, it’s the gigantic wall of sound that confronts you that nurtures your intention and satisfies significant riff cravings.
‘Shaped By The Landscape’ is short, but that plays to its charm – it is a vital burst of excitement that doesn’t tail off or feel repetitive. It’s a release of pent up aggression and adrenaline that gives you exactly what you need, without the need to question it.
When done to this level, hardcore can never be accused of being boring. It’s records like this that remind you of the energy and creativity that can be found in a genre that far too often relies on cliches.
Smart, vicious, and clever, if Bailer aren’t picked up to tour with the likes of Beartooth or Norma Jean in the very near future, then the music industry is failing bands of this quality, plain and simple. They deserve it, and we’d sure as hell pay to see it.
CHRIS ROBINSON