Non - Fiction
Cockroaches are essentially nature’s Michael Myers. Some can go 45 minutes without air; some can go months without food; some can even survive being submerged in water for half an hour, but what ever you do, no matter what lengths you go to, you simply can not kill the buggers.
Although for some part they provide entertainment by adding endless amounts of suffering to some unfortunate celebrity for our televisual delectation on TV’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here; If nuclear Armageddon were to liquefy us all tomorrow, all that would be left scuttling about on this earth is the cockroach and for that we are naturally suspicious them.
Much like the aforementioned cockroach is post hardcore, no matter how many knocks it takes does not seem to want to shuffle off this mortal coil either. Now we are in ‘Forth Reich’ of the genre, it seems that not a week goes by that we are not exposed to another generic band who are scream/shouting about the same tired topics as the last; re-treading the same guitar and bass lines and such and boy, it’s getting a little tedious.
Peterborough’s We Are Fiction unquestionably settle in the post-hardcore camp with their debut EP but to their credit are perhaps a little more inventive than other bands of their ilk. Mixing together a hearty slice of metal, shredding vocals and a fair heft of melody, this seems to be a more considered effort than many of the other offerings that we have seen this year.
Lead track ‘Bitch’ doesn’t sound too dissimilar to Alexisonfire with its melodic sensibilities and dual vocal attack, but perhaps it is because this is being released in 2009, rather than in 2003 - when it seemed like the spirit of the genre had been revitalised by a slew of inventive upstarts - that it doesn’t have the same punch. That is not to say what they have produced is in any regards second rate but seemingly untimely in its release. The rest of the EP again is well crafted and considered with ‘You'll Never Guess What Happens Next’ being a particular standout, but you just feel that it has come a little too late. If this came out six years ago, We Are Fiction would undoubtedly make quite a dent stateside.