Brutai by name, brutal by nature you would think. Hailing from Reading, the band have been working on their debut album for the past year and the fruits of their labour are finally set to be unleashed. Strap yourself in because it’s going to be an interesting ride.

It’s clear that Brutai are an ambitious bunch. The songs that make up ‘Born’ paint a vivid and passionate picture and demonstrates the bands desires to stand out. It’s a shame that the result of their efforts feels a little lost and muddled.

There’s no denying that the band bring the heat at times with ‘Of Ashes’ and ‘‘Dear Emily’ possessing sprawling riffs and pummeling drums, while closer The Border is a beautifully layered composition. It’s that the ambition hiding within the quintet gets clouded over by trying to do too much at once. The band feel like they are having an identity crisis and, rather than choosing one path to walk, they are throwing a bit of everything into the mix to see what happens.

Such a decision makes for a clunky, at times awkward and uninteresting listen. There’s no denying the band’s talent and apparent ambition but the way they have utlised these attributes are more detrimental than they probably hoped.

’Born is an in intriguing record if anything. It has its glimmers of brilliant heaviness and clarity yet on the whole is very mixed up and lost. As by-numbers as possible and with no real style behind the substance, Brutai sound like a band who aren’t sure what voice they want to have so have instead inherited way too many. Maybe with a bit more time in the spotlight the band will come into their own, but for now it feels as though they are treading water when they should be making waves.

2.5/5

’Born’ by Brutai is released on November 25th on Transcend Music.

Brutai links: Facebook|Twitter

Words by Jack Rogers (@JackMRog)