Subringor come to the auditory battlefield armed with a heavy strain of new metal that has faint rapcore undercurrents. Gritty verses spit out bitter sounding flows before disintegrating, setting the band off like a chain of dominos with raging guitarwork and throaty screams. Staying somewhat close to rapcore/modern metal stylings, the group can draw vague comparisons of bands like Order By Chaos, Shuvel with a touch of more progressive bands such as Disturbed and perhaps even Trustfall.
Vocally the album features a slightly raspy voice as rhymes are endlessly tossed out and are moderated with unusual bursts of harmony that have a stylish rough edge and add depth. Choruses are filled with blistering screams that invoke a cathartic release and increase the aggressive swagger. Guitars attack the listeners senses as they charge through growling riffs that feature a slight Korn styled influence. By no means cut and paste though, there are definitely some large sounding riffs that showcase a liberal downtuning and they tend to be the moments when the guitarwork brings to mind early Coal Chamber, screeching like a buzzsaw or pummeling with piercing lunges. Bass is tuned to a fairly low degree that gives a percussive edge while some slap and pop technique is implemented into the overall angry playing style which features hard hit notes that rattle loosely under the intense guitars. Drums are steady with a deep tuning that causes each drum kick to pound into the listeners chest. A relatively tight snare tuning is in place and constant variation is used with not much focus put to anything else and although this could be a rather bad thing in some bands, the main driving force of the band is tipped more to the guitars, bass and vocals, which evens things out.
Some hypnotic melodies are achieved through the use of winding effects and tightly weaved bass and guitar parts, while unexpected bursts of straight forward singing hit the music home. There's also a large amount of assertiveness exuded from the instrumental contributions which at times feature a few sick sounding tones that impress, yet oddly feel as though they have been done before. Unfortunately for the band though, their music just doesn't seem to really stick out or utterly captivate as everything feels somewhat familiar overall. There are a few weaknesses that rear their head too, perhaps the most notable of which is the way the vocals feel a bit thinly veiled lyrically. Although they're direct to the point approach gives them the ability to come on strong, it can end up leaving something to be desired after repeated listens. There's no question this group have honed their craft as everything they do on the album is top notch from production through to the musicianmanship, but as it is, with literally thousands of bands attempting to make a name with the rapcore styled sound, it can feel a bit diluted and "been there, done that". The saving grace of the disc is indeed the straight metalcore sounding parts that push this band into areas not often explored and is definitely something that the band should work on to break out of the pack. Subringor's EP shows off a wealth of untapped talent and solid ideas that can easily be nurtured into brutally crushing tracks. Aptly titled "Day One", this EP will in all likelihood be a stepping stone in which they establish a local fanbase and catapult themselves to new heights with further releases in the infinite days to come.
(3.5 / 5)
