The Years is the Victory Records debut for Michigan's Red I Flight, a five piece band who combine Scandinavian styled death metal with brutal US hardcore. It's probably not the most original formula you'll ever hear, but the band are good at what they do and deliver one crushing track after another that are certainly a lot more interesting than most of the current crop of metalcore on the scene today. Lead singer Josh Robinson mixes things up with plenty of gutteral death growls, hardcore shouts, and maniacal screams, which adds plenty of variety to these hard hitting songs. Ultimately though it's the tasty dual guitar attack of Eric Gerloff & Matt Earp that really makes things happen here. Expect plenty of Gothenburg styled harmony leads (yeah, these guys obviously studied their In Flames and At the Gates records well) and punishing breakdowns...probably too many breakdowns, but damn if they aren't absolutely crushing and well placed. Tunes like "Into The Breach" and "Vigo The Carpathian" are simply fun examples of mosh-a-delic metal madness, sure to please fans of Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, and As I Lay Dying. Strongest track though is the epic sounding closer "By The Beard Of Zeus", complete with evil screams from Robinson and monstrous yet melodic guitar riffs from the dynamic duo. Overall, The Years is a solid metal release. Although it's a tad on the short side, and a few of the songs tend to sound a little too similar to each other, this band shows a boatload of promise and I think we'll be hearing a lot more about them in the near future.
Track Listing
1. Lesson 34
2. Late For The Execution
3. Bullets Over Prayers
4. Vigo The Carpathian
5. Into The Breach
6. The Siege
7. Introlude
8. Rock Biter Song
9. Of Myth And Men
10. By The Beard Of Zeus