Most of Light This City may not even be old enough to legally drink, but despite their young years, they have definitely taken nods from some of metals pioneers on this, their Prosthetic debut. An amalgamation of the grindcore of Carcass, the mature melodic death metal of At The Gates and a touch of fiery Bay Area thrash, the band bring an astounding amount of traditional talent to the table.

Vocalist Laura Nichol's wrenched vocals and throaty growls stand to toe to toe with many of her male counterparts while a bevy of riff-laden carnage is whipped up to a frenzy. Solos tend to not play that big of a part in the bands approach, but the relentless jackhammer-like assault they consistently unleash in the form of gnarled riffs, hell-bent drumming and supportive bass lines more than make up for their relative absence. Recorded as a trio, this effort sees band drummer Ben Murray pulling double-duty on guitar and his versatility and skill on both instruments is wholly impressive.

Still, while the material does have the ferocity of a rhino charging its prey, its head-down mentality can also work against it. With little attention paid to dynamic contrast the band viciously plow ahead, and while this is great on a song to song basis, an albums worth of material can quickly become taxing with no relent. Undoubtedly the band are great at playing their instruments, but their song-writing still feels a bit limited and unsure. In turn, Light This City's fire remains contained, but hopefully it won't take long for this inferno to branch out and cause a real disaster.