The common phrase “once you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all” seems all too apt with many up-and-coming hardcore acts. However, technical hardcore/mathcore four-piece The Colour Line are hoping to see these relations decimate through ‘The Long Awaited Sea of Approval.’
Opener ‘E = MC Hammered’ begins with a false sense of calmness. Coining the illustrious drum opener of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock n Roll’, all alarms are consequently triggered and The Colour Line are in full-effect. ‘Ire Works’ era Dillinger Escape Plan-inspired riffery emasculates proceedings with jolted and hectic rhythms all tightly and sophisticatedly mangled together. With influences that show off both metal trend-setters and successors, the track contains both legato chromatic guitar leads and Van Halen-esque guitar solos that are all delivered completely effortlessly.
Lead single ‘The Streisand Effect’ exposes relations to the hardcore aspects of The Fall of Troy and The Chariot, welcoming different sides to the same coin. Multi-faceted in many parts, The Colour Line’s tracks never forge uninspired trickery, and often build their own tracks on influences that are hard to pin down. It’s exciting to hear in a DIY culture that is so focused on the familiar and less so on the new to see an artist being as unequivocally hard-to-pin-down as this one.
However, ‘R.E.D’ is disappointingly almost pop punk, with clean and nonetheless refreshing vocals that are weak and wobble uncomfortably over the verse. Likewise, ‘Usama’s Bin Liners’ outro vocals are odd, giving a Metallica vibe that seems sadly out of place. It’s a shame, because instrumentally the other members deliver some really solid performances.
Overall, ‘The Long Awaited Sea of Approval’ is great. It’s far from perfect, but its highlights are so undeniably brilliant that the misses are easy to forget. For the most part, The Colour Line really succeed at what they’re trying to do. And, with a little refinement, Hull’s most unique mathcore act might end up becoming a modern hardcore behemoth.
3.5/5
‘The Long Awaited Seal Of Disapproval’ EP by The Colour Line is released on February 26th on Basick Records.
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Words by Joshua Hall.
