When you look across the whole metal spectrum you’d be hard pressed to find a sub-genre more over-saturated than Tech-Metal. There has been an absolutely massive influx of bands in that scene over the last few years, with a lot of them falling well short of what is needed to really stand out and make a mark. Enter Loathe. Hailing from Liverpool, this band are still relative newcomers so with The Cold Sun (Sharptone) have they made any kind of lasting impression? The short answer is “Yes”. The slightly longer answer is “Very much, yes indeed”.

The opening few tracks alone do pretty damn well in showcasing exactly what Loathe are capable of, from the crushing brutal nature on ‘Dance On My Skin’, to the technical and complex ‘East Of Eden’ right through to the more sprawling sounding ‘It’s Yours’, Loathe have done well to cover as many bases as possible.

The reason this is so important is because so many other bands in this scene chug their way through a record with the same song about ten times in a row. We’ve all been there before, you stick the album on, lose your metaphorical shit to the opening track and then by the fifth song you’re starting to brainstorm ideas for dinner that night. Whilst not the perfect record, Loathe do very well to keep you engaged throughout as it’s not abundantly clear which way they’re going to swerve next.

It would perhaps be unfair to completely shoehorn them in to the ‘Tech-Metal’ scene because, whilst this is of course at their very core, there is also this awesome Metallic Hardcore edge to their sound which at times allows their sound to venture off in to a mesh of Sikth, Architects and Northlane.

Overall then, this is a very solid record from a band still finding their way somewhat. A lot of ideas have been thrown in to the mix here and whilst most of it has certainly stuck, it will be very exciting to see how Loathe end up building on this release.

Definitely a band to keep an eye on over next couple of years.

7.0/10

TOM DONNO