Heavy sound lovers, Heart Of A Coward are back!
Created in England in 2008, the band was formed by Carl Ayers, who is the only founder member still in the band. The rest of the lineup is composed of Chris Mansbridge (drums), Vishal Khetia (bass), Steve Haycock (guitar) and the last to come is Kaan Tasan, who joined in 2018, replacing Jami Graham. The five musicians worked on The Disconnect, the band’s fourth album, which follows their style melting Metalcore and Djent/Prog sonorities. Here we go?
The album begins with the energetic Drown In Ruin. After a short introduction, it’s a true wall of sound that hits us in full force. The jerky rhythmic is supported by harmonics, and vocals, in addition to powerful screams, sometimes turns into distant and airy howling. They keep this dynamic aspect for Ritual, a very angry track. Once again, harmonics give this particular taste to the song, of which basis makes us move our head. Sometimes, riffs calm down, but violence is never this far, and Collapse won’t make me lie. And even if the rhythm part is already impressive, the final break is just a monstrous one, so it will be difficult to resist to the band’s charm.
Culture Of Lies come back to those relentless jerks that hugely contrast with the chorus, intensified by some nice ambient samples, just like on In The Wake too. There is no time to lose for this composition, the band throw us heavy riffs since the very beginning, and even when Kaan switches for clean vocals, intensity doesn’t decrease. The singer’s screams lead us to Senseless, a track that focuses on shrill-sounding guitars while they also keep heaviness. Rhythm part has this feeling of fastness that will be broken by the chorus, until the only real rest of this album, Return To Dust. A clean-sounding ballad, accompanied by samples and a relaxing voice which is both very different from other compositions, but that also perfectly fits to Heart Of A Coward’s universe. It’s with a distant scream that the track ends.
The band comes back to their excited Metalcore/Djent with Suffocate, a track that seems to be basic, but which is finally way more catchy that I thought at first on the chorus. And it’s after a new pachydermic break that Parasite begins. Riffs are infused of those soaring samples, and the whole composition is a true headbanging invitation, on both chorus and blast beat parts, that contrasts with quieter moments. Last track that pushes sample purpose to its climax, Isolation also coerce the singer to scream deeper than his usual tone, with an impossible to disguise rage. But the vocalist is also able to create a softer atmosphere on the chorus, with the musician’s help.
Althought Heart Of A Coward changed their singer, their motivation remains untouched, and the excellent The Disconnect is the proof. The band’s universe is catchy and the englishs cleverly melt some influences to create their very own sound. Even if they’re not this big, they worthily walk in the steps of some bands that already meet success, and I won’t be surprised to see them on bigger venues in some years.
85/100