David Straw's Top 10 Albums Of 2015
David Straw picks out his top albums of 2015
10. Counterparts - Tragedy Will Find Us
Staunch defenders of their metalcore tag, Counterparts might have a bit of trouble keeping it, given that Tragedy Will Find Us is at its best when it feels like a pure hardcore record. Stillborn & Thread start the album with style, while the lilting guitar intro Burn bridges the gap between the single and Stranger perfectly.
Collapse is Tragedy.'s finest moment, though. Emotionally charged, it's the most 'metal' track on the album that builds to a fitting crescendo.
They sound excellent live, too. Joining Stick To Your Guns and Stray From The Path (we'll get to them later) for a UK tour in February, it'd be a sin to miss Counterparts, if this record is anything to go by.
9. Vision of Disorder - Razed to the Ground
Over the past couple of years, there's been a definite sense that metalcore is beginning to have run its course. Fortunately, all it needed was for one of the bands who crafted it in the first place to release an album to remind everyone just how good it can be.
That band is Vision of Disorder, and that album is Razed to the Ground.
Heart of Darkness and Red on the Walls are vintage VoD, white hot and delivered hard, while Electric Sky could be VoD covering Pantera covering Black Sabbath. Yeah, really.
Tim Williams' vocals are as strong as ever, and it's his lashings of Layne Staley-esque lines that lift the album even more.
Razed to the Ground is an album that'll pass so many by, while paler imitations shine brighter in the mainstream conscious, and for a record as good as this, that's a crying shame.
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