As a scene that appears to be growing at a very healthy rate, Australian heavy music is in a great place right now. Parkway Drive are bigger than ever following the release of ‘Ire’, while Northlane and Thy Art Is Murder make waves of their own around the globe. Among the country’s ever-growing legions are deathcore merchants Boris The Blade, who after seeing almost instantaneous success on the release of their debut have toured with Suicide Silence, Sepultura and more, have returned with their brand new record, ‘Warpath’.

Opening with its title track, ‘Warpath’ is a precision based deathcore assault and opens proceedings well enough. However, it quickly becomes apparent that these short bursts of brutality are all the band deals in, and quickly things begin to blur in a deluge of breakdowns and rapid fire percussion. The one saving grace is an appearance from ex Thy Art frontman CJ McMahon whose distinct tone injects ‘Misery’’s hook with some much needed aggression. Unfortunately, this brief moment of quality just makes you wish you were listening to the real thing.

It’s hard to say anything overly negative about this record – every element is delivered with proficiency, and its production is as clean and tight as one would expect. However, any further praise proves difficult: there is nothing, literally nothing on ‘Warpath’ that you won’t have heard before, to a point where this over familiarity becomes distracting. For all its competency, this record is so lacking in its own personality that it becomes a pointless exercise. If you’re a deathcore fan looking for your fix, then this might be worth checking out, but otherwise, don’t bother – this is the definition of cookie cutter metal.

1.5/5

‘Warpath’ by Boris The Blade is released on 27th January on Siege Music/Impericon.

Boris The Blade links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp

Words by Josh Graham (@jollyboyjosh_)