Setting the controls for the heart of the stun this North West (UK) trio sandblast your heart and scorch the earth at your feet. Sleaze reliably informed me this is what the omnipresent 'they' call screamo. Crikey, if I start combing my hair over my face I'll look like a cross between the Misfits and one of Tadpole Tudors merry punksters backing band. Whatever, on this strong display, and when I was knocked off my feet at a recent gig, they bring to my murky mind the blissful release of prime 'Number Of The Beast' Maiden (well, actually that was 'Killers' but bear with me), and the aggression of some primal punkthrash 'proper' 'Kill 'Em All' Metallica...melodic metal, sure, but without the often too clinical aspect, bursting to the brim with rough-edged punk, and played with some emotion, guts and passion. Crime? I think not m'lud. Torrential tornado juggernaut opener 'Reasons For Misery' rebounds with hints of 'Sanitarium', and as with the above two metal titans they take you on a twisting journey, like delving into a delirious mind in a psych ward...perfect slasher or teen psychological thriller soundtrack...Tight as Hetfield's jeans in vintage vinyl days, The 'Low possess an oft missing knack with song structures and dynamics - 'Full Circle' being aptly titled for a white water raft ride thru churning waters of the gut, following a fucked up feeling round your veins and ventricles up to the wasted waterfall that pours out your mouth in the form of some ill-said verbiage. Closer 'Cuts' shapeshifts intricately (to me anyway, seen as I play in a CountryBilly band where anything is intricate, and tempo changes purely accidental!) in a similar way to 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' closing '...Beast'. Not to suggest that we're witnessing some old hat Metal clowning here. The dark atmospherics are right thru the future and fuck me it's great to here some metal that is nowhere near the dreaded nu-something.

For a band that have only been gigging since last December this is a colossal start and is a hopeful promise of big things to come. I raise a large one to them following earlier Manc metallers Beecher to the home of Sleazegrindin' in Boston?

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