Title: Strength In Numbers
Date of Release: November 2013
Record Label: Self Release/Bandcamp
Album Review Format: Digital Download
Genre: Death Metal
Website: www.facebook.com/headbore
Reviewed by: Geoff McGraw
Track listings: 1. What We Are 2. Enemy 3. Temptress 4. Sacrifice 5. Strength In Numbers 6. Everything is nothing 7. Trenches 8. Pigs 9. Lets Fight 10. Walk Away
Grab your leather and denim, strap on your wallet chain and prepare to windmill the ever living hell out of your neck!
Headbore hails from the land down under, and drops this slab of genuinely great metal on the world with help from the masterful touch of Jens Borgen, who has worked on albums from such artists as Katatonia, Devin Townsed, and Opeth.
Expect no easing into the album with an intro to whet the appetite, Headbore launches into the swing of things immediately, and takes no prisoners. I'm not comfortable with dropping the boys from Adelaide into a strict definition of death metal. Not content to pound out traditional chord based death metal OR modern technical death metal they owe as much to thrash and groove, creating an amazing combination of riffs, licks and interesting rhythms that is certain to please. Moreover Headbore is not afraid to mix some melody in where it's needed, which is a breath of fresh air in a genre often more concerned with brutality over composition. Fear not however, there is no lack of pummeling goodness.
The band obviously has passion for the music they play. The dual guitar attack of Luke Fisher and Chris Ward shreds, but they also include a ton of "feel" to the guitar parts. Dan Sloan on Bass and Adam Day on Drums are not just merely a solid rhythm section, they add to and take the music to the next level. The vocals of Adam Fisher are impressive to say the least, his control is simply amazing and he howls, screams and growls(with a few clean parts) his way through the songs and still manages to do that most of rare things......remain intelligible (at least for those used to this type of vocals).
My favorite tracks here bookend the album. "What We Are" opens the album and "Walk Away" closes it. However there is not a weak track on the album, and the excellent production only makes the album even better. An incredibly tight performance, this is definitely an album which will remain in my rotation for some time to come.
9 out of 10 horns
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