Album Review
Sharp End First - Rule The DaySharp End First - Rule The Day

Sharp End First are a five piece band that are based in Bath, they have toured with many huge bands such as Hundred Reasons, Textures, Twin Zero, Sikth and many others, they released their debut EP 'Warchie' last year which got a mixed response from the press. The band are now back with their debut full length album 'Rule The Day' and to be honest I really can’t take these guys seriously, don’t get me wrong the musical style that they play is pretty heavy and they can certainly play their instruments extremely well, the melodic backing vocals sound pretty spot on too but front man Flit's vocals sound extremely out of place, they are raw screams but really badly sounding raw screams like he’s under water screaming, think of Dani Filth's vocals from Cradle Of Filth running over the top of a song by Rise Against and you will be close to understanding what a fucked up sound Sharp End First really have.

The instrumental work on offer is pretty spot on such as on the opening track 'Super Thriller', the guitar riffs are quite bold and heavy sounding and the drumming working up to its explosive peak is quite impressive but as soon as the song hits 43 seconds in length the lead vocals come in sounding so out of place, as the song goes on, the vocals vary but the raw vocals are still there but they are rallying with melodic sing a long vocals which fits the bands sound quite well despite the fact the raw screams really ruin the overall sound.

The guitar riffs on 'Wishbones' are well worth checking out as well, they are proper fast and extremely heavy and will excite most people that like the sound of a good guitar riff but once again the moment is ruined by the out of place odd sounding main raw vocals, there are more melodic vocals on offer throughout the song that work really well but guard your ears as it’s very unpredictable when the raw vocals come in.

If Sharp End First could produce more songs like 'Love Less Regret' then they would be on the right tracks to getting somewhere, the song is fast paced, quite melodic and the sound really suits them, there are raw screams on offer but this time they sound a lot different and totally fit in place.

You have to respect Sharp End First for trying to do something slightly different but whoever had the idea of having those hideous sounding raw, shouty, out of place lead vocals needs help as they do nothing but ruin the bands sound, if Sharp End First go back to the drawing board and remove or modify the lead vocals and stick to the more melodic vocals then they could have the potential of getting their music across to people, but with a half finished sound like this. Sharp End First aren’t going anywhere in a hurry.

2/5

Review by Trigger
 Band Members
Sharp End First - Band
Simon
Jay
Jacko
Flit
Rob
 Track Listing
1. Super Thriller
2. Nameless
3. Blinded By Belief
4. Wishbones
5. Dividing Infinity
6. Remote Chance Of Survival
7. Love Less Regret
8. Warchie
9. Don't Let Them Fall
10. So Be It
11. Suffer Yourself
 Band Related Links
Sharp End First Myspace
Sharp End First Official Website
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?