My apologies to the readership here, but things are going to be a bit ‘core’ for a while as I wade through my considerable pile of angry young men trying their hand at various offshoots of hardcore and metalcore, not to worry though Nile and Gorefest reviews are coming shortly.
LA’s The Orangeburg Massacre are one of a long line of faceless yet competent bands trying their hand at slightly Southern styled, antagonistic and angular metalcore/hardcore. Though their sound is rooted in the Orange County sound (i.e. Poison The Well), you can here the band referencing the likes of Every Time I Die, Cancer Bats, Her Candane! and such. It’s all by the numbers, well produced adequately played and sure to appeal to mustachioed, new age hardcore rockers looking for something a little less burly and less macho.
Of course amid the usual Southern rock tinged stuttering squawking and squealing (“Bryan Vs. Darrow”, “Mortal Yes. Human No”, “Speakeasy Controversy”, “Level 7 Destroyer”, “The Great Train Chase”) there’s the more serene moments of “Serenity Far Far Later” and “Altruism”, and vocalist Brandon Barron has a impressive bellow that’s relatively cliché free, but on the whole, the album just doesn’t deliver enough memorable moments to make it worthwhile and when compared to Pluto’s latest release by The Dead See, seems pretty weak.
