When a band emerges with a “formed by members of” list containing bands like Adequate Seven, *shels, Fireapple Red, and Devil Sold His Soul, it’s quite hard not to get excited or curious at the very least.
There’s already a whirlwind of attention gathering around March of the Raptors – partly boosted by the track record of the personel, but not least because the band have made no mistake coming straight out of the blocks and tearing off a few faces.
March of the Raptors‘ debut release sounds something like what you’d expect if Propagandhi made a new record after deciding ‘Supporting Caste’ was short a few gang vocals and beatdowns, and then ran it by a few British hardcore bands for verification.
Surefire standouts are ‘Grace of God’ and ‘After the Nightmare’ for the massive chorus of the former and blistering speed of the latter, but it’s hard to pick a least favourite when the whole release is a thoroughly enjoyable and well thought out rampage from start to finish. It’s a deafeningly angry and riff heavy affair in the best way possible, and every song begs to be blasted out at unsafe volumes.
Special mention is most definitely needed for the ‘unintentionally sounds a bit like Star Wars’ moment in ‘Days of Last’ – I don’t think John Williams will be smashing down the doors any time soon, but here’s hoping it sounds a bit more like it ‘by accident’ when the band play it live.
I’m sure that a few Adequate Seven fans from a few years back might feel a bit lost here, but I mean, What’s not to like? Beatdowns? good. Speedy punk beats? good. Gang vocals? good. Big riffs? good. Epic solos? good.
There’s plenty here for punk, hardcore and metal fans alike, and it winds up making the band sound very much like one of this year’s most exciting prospects.