aaamusic | On 11, Mar 2012

I’m not entirely sure how they’ve managed this, but The Unguided have created an album so unavoidably loud and yet somehow fairly forgettable. There’s moments of a certain something shining through that illuminates what has caused The Unguided to build quite a substantial fanbase. ‘Serenade Of Guilt’ is a Euro-pop song run through metal as black as pitch and the result is a malignant, twisted , evil synth-along with pounding drums and buzzsaw guitars, and the impossibly bouncy opening riff of ‘Collapse My Dream’ being wedged into savage death metal riffing likewise shows a deftness and talent, but it’s a bit of a one-trick pony. As much as it can be a great trick to use, eleven songs that follow the formula gets wearing.

Occasionally the formula varies. ‘Betrayer Of The Code’ has a constant assault that eschews the ubiquitous Euro-pop chorus to great effect as we’re left with a brutal metal and synth assault that cuts right to be bone, and ‘Iceheart Fragment’ is a solid example of how to write a slower song in this style, and the jagged synth/guitar interplay here works well, with slower, cleaner verses and a greater reliance on the jittery club dancefloor synth as the main instrumental focus.

 

But in all honesty, ‘Hellfrost’ feels unremarkable. The Unguided are good, yes, but most of the songs have little to really mark them out. Their electro synths are a nice touch, but they’re lost amongst the extreme metal trappings and mildly turgid stadium choruses. It just feels a bit juvenile and, dare I say it, like Hot Topic for the Nuclear Blast fans.

 

Katie H-Halinski