If this is metal, then I’m the Queen of England!
Last Stop China Town are a 4-piece metal band made up of vocalist Alon Bentley, guitarist Robb Mitchell, Andy Hill on bass and Adam Harris on drums. Having played support slots for metal giants Bullet for My Valentine, Skindred, Breed 77, Panic Cell and Forever Never amongst others, I was expecting big things from the Midlanders. Their new album, ‘Into the Volcano’, which is due for release on 14th September 2009, is the product of a lengthy period of experimentation, evolution and line-up changes...
...If this is metal, then I’m the Queen of England!
The lyrics are dark and full of attitude (“Within a sea of victims so deep below // drowning without a feel, I have to let go // now my friend I’ll cut you loose so you can’t // put your knife into my spine” (Raised to Ruin)) but they are well disguised by the miserable emo vibe on nearly every song on the album. There’s definitely “something” missing, the raw “something” that makes metal so unmistakable and exciting!
The vocal performance from Bentley is, on the whole, pretty cringe-worthy; his singing voice is weak and lacking in power, causing most of his sustained notes to be pretty ropy. His metal roar sounds like it’s coming, not from a rockin’ beast, but a delicate kitten! I hope for the band’s sake that this comes across better in a live performance!
Title track ‘Into the Volcano’ is probably the heaviest song on the album, but yet again it’s let down by the poor vocal performance. Never fear though, it’s not all bad on this album! It’s jam-packed with great guitar riffs, particularly in tracks 4 and 7, ‘Voices’ and ‘Remnance’; the thundering bassline on track 8, ‘Raised to Ruin’, is also exciting and the vocal performance on track 9, ‘The End of Days’, is more than worthy of mention as Bentley attempts some Myles Kennedy-style soaring vocals which, surprisingly, is pretty impressive, making this a superbly memorable track!
Overall, despite the weak vocal contribution, ‘Into the Volcano’ is a good album with some strong tracks, proving that Last Stop China Town’s new line-up has potential! Although the band promote themselves as a metal act, I fear most metal heads would find this album disappointing as it’s nowhere near as heavy or attitudinal as other genre favourites. However, I do think there is a niche in the market for a band like this and wish them well for the future.
For further information about Last Stop China Town, including their forthcoming tour dates, check out their Myspace page (www.myspace.com/laststopchinatown)