Review Summary: Metallic weirdness.
Arguably one of the most interesting up and coming heavy bands in the UK, Rough Hands have evolved quite a lot in their time as a band. Following a similar trajectory to many of their more famous contemporaries, they started out as a fairly orthodox hardcore band on their earliest records, but have since morphed into a weird, alien little entity challenging the conventional boundaries of the genre they exist in.
Moral Terror is the culmination of such a rise – with guitar tones that have been put through some kind of crazy pedal, resulting in an almost extra-terrestrial feel at some points, the band incorporate a lot of the moodiness and oddness of the 90s without falling into the nu-metal pitfalls associated with the decade’s heavy music. No rapping to be found here, nor record scratching or ‘jump the *** up’ riffs – rather, they utilise the odd, uncomfortable atmosphere seen on Korn’s earliest records, alongside some of the Deftones’ use of melodic tension and space alongside strong hardcore rooting.
Much of this EP shows more promise than real, concrete results – an excellent starting point, but not a groundbreaking release in itself. ‘Anodyne’s all-out-pummelling, mixed with its bizarre guitar tones, proves to be one of the more memorable tracks here, with a groovy beatdown cropping up twice on the track, flexing the group’s ability to go toe to toe with VEIN and the like for sheer brutality. ‘Neuroplasticity’ feels like an alien covered a Higher Power song at points, those very 90’s, sugary sweet melodic guitar leads often found in throwback hardcore make an effective, if somewhat derivative appearance. ‘Symptoms of regression’ is the most interesting track, stylistically – odd, spacey, and really showcasing their vocalist’s range and some very Deftones-esque clean vocals, it shows an ability to vary from all out aggression and build some tension. Sure, it’s nothing outright special, and the drums feel somewhat cluttered, overcrowding the expansive atmosphere the rest of the composition holds, but the potential for something very interesting is there.
‘Moral Terror’ and ‘Sertraline Smile’ are fairly run of the mill, 90s inflected hardcore, with a lot of punch, but a lot less memorability – the former probably being the stronger of the two tracks, having a little bit more fire and pace. The thing is, whilst none of the tracks are that much more than a 6 or 7 out of 10, the EP never really dips beneath this threshold of quality – it is consistently decent to pretty strong, and for a band’s first fully fleshed go at experimentation, especially one which bucks the trends that bands like ‘Code Orange’ and ‘Vein’ have tapped into on their most recent releases, it holds up. Going for a similar style, but executing it fundamentally differently from the big dogs of your subgenre is never easy, and Rough Hands’ stab at it here is admirable. A very strong release for such a young band, and certainly one that holds hope for the future as this creative group seek to expand their horizons and push towards the hardcore in-crowd – one to watch, without doubt.
