THECITYISOURS
Album: LOW
Self-Release: 2nd August 2019

 

 

Hailing from London, THECITYISOURS are a melodic metalcore quintet formed in 2015. Following their powerful live performances, they showed what the band was made of to the audience at Download Festival in June this year. The band’s debut album “LOW” is one of the most expected albums this year.  Here is our track-by-track album review from my first listen.

 

ASHES The clean guitar to start off this album that has such a perfect opening vibe. Huge delay and reverb making for one hell of a clean tone. When the full band kicks in, you’re met with an insanely good modern metalcore riff. Just to add, what an insanely good intro into the single ‘Bare Bones’.

BARE BONES A perfect balance of heavy and catchy. ‘Take it back, take it back’ getting stuck in your head for the rest of the day is incredibly likely. It’s hard to keep up with this song, but not in a bad way. There are just a lot of changing sections, but it’s presented so well by them. The chorus is such a high quality. ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’ heading into a hard-hitting breakdown. This song is so well written. Over halfway now and he has Connor Hallisey from Our Hollow, Our Home featuring his signature vocal style. The call and response between Connor Hallisey and the band’s own Sam Stolliday is literally perfect. This song is incredible. There is no wonder TheCityIsOurs are making the moves that they are right now.

 

CASKET Big unison riffs time to open the song up. I feel the intro goes on for a tad long, but we change that soon enough with the upbeat first verse. Big I Prevail vibes with this chorus, verging into the EDM realm. Verse two coming back to kick some ass! A lot has happened in this song already at only 1:40, then you’re met with an awesome clean hook. Incredibly catchy! The call and response between cleans and screams are perfect. Classic metalcore EQ build up met with a right naughty riff. We return to the brilliant melody. With some big vocal pushes.

 

VEINS I get some real pop vibes from this band whilst they are also creating still definitely a very modern metal sound. This verse isn’t ruined by over doing anything, which is the downfall of a lot of bands in today’s scene. This chorus is a perfect example of why these guys are killing the melodic game. Verse 2 bring the breakdowns and proving what I said about TCIO capturing melodic and heavy together. This song reminds me a lot of an UK metal band The Uncharted. The breakdown not being the strong part on the album, however there are a lot of very good breakdowns on this album. The post-production on this song is very well done also.

NOW THAT YOU’RE GONE Again, opening a song using some clean guitars. These guys are keeping it nice and diverse. So far, I’m not listening to an album of singles and B-sides. I’m listening to a very well paced album. It’s refreshing. I like that we’re not sticking to verse scream, chorus sing. We’re jut placing vocal styles wherever and making them fit. This song is very well written. The vocal hook in the bridge is filled with passion. Listening to this side by side with an internationally touring band, you honestly wouldn’t notice a quality difference.

LOW Here we go! Something for me to enjoy more than I should. Twiddly guitar riffs! We’ve got the third clean verse in a row now. I don’t know if this song needs to be placed here. The song overall is filled with good melodies working well with the harmonic element of the song. The builds and rises in this song are impressive, they are writing a song instead of a formula. It is nice to hear that so far this album only has good choruses.

DON’T WAIT FOR ME Big jumpy feels as they open with a catchy melody. A big atmospheric verse with a good layer of harmonies seeping in every now and again. Four to the floor on the drums carrying the simplicity of the backing giving the vocals a lot of room to breathe. Excellent song writing. This song will be stuck in my head for the next 2 weeks at least. There is a great message from this song. And you find a big pop vibe too which is not at all in a bad way.

 

INCOMPLETE This song blends disgusting riffs and guitar leads with a killer vocal melody. The theme I have noticed so far through this album is every transition has worked perfectly. The second verse of ‘Incomplete’ is something we haven’t heard yet on this album. However, I think it needs to be done more! I will walk away with this stuck in my head, permanently. Here again we’re changing things up. Having a breakdown with an awesome guitar ‘twiddly’ bit. Honestly this song should be a single.

IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW A huge riff to open this riff heavy bop. This is the most stripped back of anything I have heard from TCIO. This song isn’t what you would expect from this band, however it’s a nice edition to a great album. I get quite a big Gideon feel with this riff heavy hard hitter. The fast vocals in the breakdown show something not seen yet. Very impressive. This song would go down well live.

 

SACRED This would be a good set opener. It carries a big impact through until you come to a standstill with a competent vocal melody. The chorus again is just stupidly catchy! These guys have very similar second verse in their songs. It’s not that that is a bad thing as every time they follow that formula it works incredibly well and always serves the song. The guitar solo in this song suits it superbly. With an excellent rise and fall showing the guitarist to have enough restraint as to not just shred over the entire thing. Closed out with some beautiful clean guitars, we now head into the album closer.

HERE AT ALL This song opens using some post-hardcore vibes combining screams with clean guitars. Some haunting cleans are combined with stripping the drums back for an impactful chorus. The use of crowd vocals was what this song needed as an album closer. Again, showing that this band can only write good choruses. The chorus brings me back to the heavier ‘30 Seconds to Mars’ vibes. A breakdown thrown in just to remind you this band not only have huge melodies; they can bring it all with heavy riffs and slamming drums. I don’t know how this couldn’t be stuck in your head after just one listen. I feel this bridge would be topped off really with a melodic guitar solo. I know that may be an unpopular opinion, however these guys have shown they’re excellent with guitar solos. A huge Queen vibe with the acapella close the album.

This is one of the best albums I have heard this year. Every song has so much thought and consideration. It’s a journey as opposed to a lot of modern albums. This is something you would happily sit down and listen to all the way through.
THECITYISOURS – LOW (9/10)

–  Jack Wood (End Of Daze)

 

 

THECITYISOURS are -
Mikey Page - Vocals / Guitar
Sam Stolliday - Vocals
Jamie Deeks - Bass
Stuart Mercer - Guitar
Louis Giannamore - Drums

 

Live Events
03.08.19  ‘LOW’ Album Release Show, London (Sold out)
31.08.19  Burn It Down Festival 2019, Torquay
07.09.19  Macmillan Fest 2019 – Nottingham
19.10.19  Unite Against Hate, Manchester
26.10.19  Holloween III, Southampton