Though oddly touted as ‘Blue Collar metal”, Pittsburg’s Once Nothing are more in line with the Southern infused likes of Maylene And the Sons of Disaster, Cancer Bats, The Showdown and Remove The Veil, but add a heftier, sterner metalcore/hardcore tone rather than a more drawling rock backbone to their Southern core.
Still though, the end result isn’t exactly groundbreaking or original, and in truth is so bland and by the numbers, that it could at times for any number of metalcore bands trolling myspace and last.fm right now, but a few moments here and there indicate the band has the potential to be a bit better than average.
Admittedly the Southern elements hinted at on the over is a bit overplayed as you are not getting quite the hazy Southern fueled rock of Maylene but more some standard US metalcore/hardcore with a couple of smatterings of the South, like a harpsichord in “My Sweet Medusa”, a few gravelly riffs and grooves and drawling shouts (“Columbus Wasn’t Looking for America”, “Then There Were Nine”, “All My Heroes Are Cowboys”, “Its All About Me or Someone like Me”), but it lacks the tangible, gritty and pure Southern, whiskey and chew, shit kicking vibe of Maylene, though “Whiskey Breath” comes close, if forced. Other wise, this a fairly standard middle tier US metalcore band. The guitars crunch and gallop with the occasional dual gallop, breakdown and gruff vocals.
Solid State needs to stick to their Euro inspired obviously Christian metalcore, as this is a bit of a ‘miss’ and a reach to get in on the Southern metal thing, while the recent likes of Mychildren, Mybride and Advent are far more impressive.
