Throughout this 5 song EP, Yorkshire’s Glamour of the Kill really show some balls. There’s fantastic choruses, glorious riffs and fantastic songwriting coursing embedded in here.
Just shy of fifteen minutes long, they set their stall out and boy are they ambitious. The opening riff of ‘Lights Down’ sets the table for a cocktail of spikey rhythm guitars and powerful drums with a proper party chorus. Definitely a crowd pleaser at shows in waiting especially with the gang harmonies, waiting to be screamed back by fans. ‘We Are All Cursed’ continues this promising start and follows through on the party atmosphere, showing that these guys are definitely on the up. Both the songs could be rock club staples and they conjure up images of crowds moshing with beers and JD lofted high.
The third song, ‘Out Of Control’ brings the first of two guest vocalists. This song features the irrepressible Jacoby Shaddix from the legendary Papa Roach. As such, this song could easily be a Papa Roach tune. Starting with a very nu-metal riff, very reminiscent of another ‘nu-metal’ band System of a Down, this song has a huge amount of swagger. Shaddix’s vocals mix perfectly with Davey Richmond’s, comprising more actual singing than the rapping most people have become accustomed to, this is the highlight of a very bright EP. ‘Earthquake’ features the second guest vocalist, Craig Mabbit of Escape The Fate fame. Starting with some punishing drums, the guitar screeches into play and GOTK do not look bad. Mabbit’s guest vocals again add another layer of quality which pushes GOTK to a new level. Whilst not as obvious as Shaddix’s vocals, it seems that just having these two vocalists in the studio has pushed the band to be better. It works very well.
EP closer ‘Blood Drunk’ is a slab of perfected hard rock meets metal. It shows a maturity in their evolution of material. Overall, Glamour Of The Kill have shown that they deserve to be playing at the top of bigger bills. This EP shows a lot of promise and if the next album carries this on, they’ll be massive. Some will point to the fact that it sounds like Bullet For My Valentine and they’d be right. But Glamour of the Kill are doing what BFMV should’ve done; stayed true to their metal & hard rock roots and not tried to appeal to everyone. This band are on the cusp of something great and deserve to grow. Astounding stuff.
ADAM ROSARIO