Musically, there’s barely an original note played here despite the high energy as Above This Fire’s mix of galloping power chords and slightly forced machismo breakdowns have all been done before, mostly better, but there is something about their sound that points to commercial success in lieu of the fact most metal heads will turn their nose up at this faster than if sniffing Anna Nicole Smith’s workout undergarments. There’s a few awkward blast beats (‘What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse’, ‘Miles Apart’) that try to give Above This Fire some semblance of metal respect, but it’s a pretty weak fa’ade, especially when ‘Miles Apart’ is followed by the uber clich’ of the requisite emotional/ introspective/melodic refrain of the title track (I HATE weak title tracks).

After the said title track the album briefly gets more hardcore/metalcore with ‘Designing a Requiem’ (could there be a more succinct metalcore track name?), and ‘When Screams go Silent’ with their gang vocal choruses and galloping/choppy mix of riffs and predictable breakdowns. But ‘City of Locust’ brings the punk with a short burst of commercial frivolity. ‘My Kiss of Death’ tries to make amends but the squealing duel harmonies between the forced chugging.

Despite my lukewarm response to this album (mainly in part to the fact I have a lot of metalcore and most is better than this), there’s no denying this is a solid album for the genre and I have a sneaking suspicion that the mainstream/Hot Topic/MTV2 crowd will pick this lot out to follow.

While most readers of this site will more than likely moan at the prospect of a another death metal/metalcore crossover, the fact remains the mix of European styled harmonies and US based hardcore beef is appealing to me and with this EP, WDHR appear to be ready to rise to the top of the genre along the likes of The Glass Casket, The Red Chord and Beyond the Sixth Seal. The Eric Rachael (A Perfect Murder, Dead to Fall) production immediately raises the quality of the songs, giving them a thick yet harmonic gloss that allows their European (Ebony Tears, and Sacrilege come to mind) harmonies to breath through the stout breakdowns.

The centerpiece of this 6 track EP is the monstrous “Distress Patterns” that while littered with now familiar and over used structures (dual harmonies, dual growled/screamed vocals, massive breakdowns), does all of them perfectly and with an energy that demands attention. WDHR do fall into cliche traps a little to much with the sappy, acoustic laden instrumental “Early Winter Transmission,” but return to the thick rumbling assault of “The Poisoning” to rectify the overly emotional error. The Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure infatuation found on the debut returns with a nicely “metal” snippet to kick off “That’s Why You Don’t Pick up Dead Crows,” which features the EP’s most intricate and twiddling harmonies, but still manages to end with a dissonantly lurching climax.

It bothers me that these bands/labels feel the need to belt out EP’s that leave your palette teased rather than wait for a full length, but still WDHR seem poised to grow into leader in the a scene desperately in need of some character.