I’ve read some good things in the English press about these guys from Milton Keynes – a place that automatically brings to mind a legendary bootleg from a devastating Metallica performance in the area, back in 1993.
They are supposed to be a band that manages to escape from some metalcore clichés. This is true to some extent, since Heart of a Coward are a metalcore band, but their music also manages to be quite progressive in a modern way – not that far from what label mates Monument are doing – fairly technical and with some djent loans here and there. Their tuning is very low, guitars tend to sound almost like a bass, but guitarists Carl Ayers and Steve Haycock even play the occasional solo.
Unfortunately, the vocals don’t reflect their progressive tendencies; once again, the brutal – clean vocals combo, on the verse and chorus respectively, rears its ugly head.
I recommend lead single ‘Hollow’ as well as ‘Turmoil II – The Weak Inherit the Earth’ for anyone who wants to have a taste of what the record’s about.
