Employed To Serve
Fallen Star
Spinefarm
Knowing how much of a metal fan Sammy Urwin is, this album feels like a love letter to our beloved genre. Every style is represented and not a second is wasted. This album is jam packed with little nuggets of ear candy that immediately make you punch the air and indeed, bang your head. The first example of this is when Justine Jones unleashes a perfect Tom Araya scream, clearly a nod to Slayer’s Angel Of Death, within the first fifteen seconds of scorching album opener Treachery, this really sets the tone for the thrill packed hellride that follows. Title track Fallen Star soars on well pitched rising synths. The first single from the LP, Atonement featuring Will Ramos owns a chorus you will be humming all year and a rare outing for Ramos’ clean singing tone (which is as good as his harsh vocals!) tied to a barrage of stomping hardcore beat down riffing. Elsewhere Breaks Me Down plays in the world of metalcore with programmed beats and a laser guided chorus. Familiar Pain is a breakneck circle pit starter, complete with frantic blast beats from incredible sticksman, Casey McHale. The band enlist the ethereal majesty of Serena Cherry on the gorgeous but brutal Last Laugh for an album stand out track on a collection that truly is all killer and zero filler. Killswitch Engage frontman joins in for the true metalcore pummeling of Whose Side Are You On and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a new Killswitch track were it not for Justine’s feral snarl and bark easily leading the charge. Indeed the vocalist really shines on this record with a truly impassioned performance that coupled with Sammy Urwin’s razor sharp ear for riffing and lead work marks Employed To Serve as a band most likely to be headed for arenas in the not too distant future. This album is literally everything great about metal in one raging package. It’s utterly essential.
Reviewed By George Miller