Really? Is metalcore not past this point yet? In the wake of Architects’ ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’, these sort of bands really need to start upping their game, but Follow My Lead have seemingly just decided to go with the flow like nothing ever happened. Despite its title implying it to an album of grimy, New York hardcore ‘Spit, Kick, Revolt’ is just another bog-standard metalcore album that does absolutely nothing to progress the genre whatsoever.

Alright, credit where it’s due – ‘Spit, Kick, Revolt’ does have its moments. There’s a decent nu-metal inspired bounce and turntable scratches on ‘Vir(us)’ that work well, and even though it’s dangerously close to Emmure levels of meat-headed posturing, opener ‘Burning Man’ does pack a punch.

But other than that, this album is essentially a laundry list of metalcore clichés rattled off in quick succession. ‘Half-Cut’ is the most base form of Deez Nuts-style beer-core, ‘Caustic’ has the token melodic guitar line (before it devolves into more brainless chest-beating) and ‘Jugular’ replicates The Amity Affliction so well that it even manages to get its chorus as lifeless and monotone as one of theirs.

That’s another thing about this album – it’s not even consistent in its mediocrity. At least most lower-tier metalcore bands stay in their own lane when it comes to which style they adopt; Follow My Lead are just all over the shop, picking and choosing at will and subsequently, spreading themselves way too thinly. It means that overall, of the three or four styles they actually try, they actually succeed with about a half of one.

And at this point, this just isn’t good enough. ‘Spit, Kick, Revolt’ is an absolute mess of an album, and one that hardly succeeds in its unclear aims at all. Just go away.

1.5/5

‘Spit, Kick, Revolt’ by Follow My Lead is out now on InVogue Records

Follow My Lead links: Facebook

Words by Luke Nuttall(@nuttall_luke)