A Finnish band that’s NOT folk/pagan? Who knew!

While I do enjoy that stuff it’s good to see that other places around the world have just as much an expansive metal scene and we are used to in North America. This progressive band is best described as “chaotic deathcore”. They take the almost stale deathcore genre and spice it up with off-pattern drumming and breakdowns layered underneath smooth guitar riffs and well placed ambience. Another refreshing release from the always trustworthy Sumerian Records… I don’t think there’s a band on that label that I don’t like.

One downside, at least for me anyways, is some of the songs that made it onto this album from their Colour Lines EP have been rerecorded and they sound much better however tracks like “Nothing Imminent” and “Scour the Sharpside” had very well placed clean backing vocal parts on the EP that are not on the new versions, save a small bit in “Scour the Sharpside”. I still find myself singing along to the clean parts even when they aren’t there, but this may not be too terrible as it does make the band sound more heavy and less watered down. Perhaps it was a wise decision.

One more thing is that I can easily compare this album to fellow Sumerians Born Of Osiris and their newest “A Higher Place”, but where BOO have lost a lot of their complexity in the new album, C.O.C keep it going strong.

All in all though, this is definitely an album I will be enjoying for years to come. Catch Circle Of Contempt on the “California Love Tour” with Oceano, Sleeping Giant, Stick to Your Guns and headliners, Winds Of Plague November 20th – December 19th.

Overall album rating: 8.5/10