I Cried Wolf – Disease (2012)

I Cried Wolf released their debut EP Disease back in November 2012, and considering they only began as a band that very same year, the EP is a testament to the bands dedication and quality.

The Oxfordshire metalcore 5 piece come storming in and melt your ears with heavy beats, beautiful melodies and a vocalist who can genuinely scream.  With some more hardcore vibes to Disease I really enjoy the intro to the album, its nice to hear metal bands branching out, and most of all it’s heavy!  The first track on the EP ‘The Lion Song’ is a great start; it really sets you up for the rest to come.  It’s in this initial track you can hear the basics from the metalcore/hardcore scene, and it reminds me of early UnderØath.

The second track is the title track of the EP and is like a melodic hardcore track – I love it.  Vocalist Harry Davies plays to his strengths and has a really nice tone in this track.  The rest of the instrumentation is tight and very well-played with some good technical ability.  This band clearly has a clear and concise idea of how metal should sound, and even just two tracks in they have a clear style and I think they could genuinely stand out from a now very saturated market.

‘Cure’ really threw me off; great intro, catchy hook and brilliant drumming, then it takes on a more ska theme.  It works, don’t get me wrong, but it did confuse me.  Moving into the bridge it seems to refer back to what I have heard so far and drops into a chorus with that perky little riff again.  I find myself tapping my foot and feeling really happy listening to this song, maybe it’s the ska.  Towards the end there is a really intense section of heavily reverberated vocals which I’m normally not the biggest fan of, but it works really well with the style.

‘Drunk’ is the epitome of hardcore, I love it; again with slight ska undertones and that’s obvious, but the short track is just all in all a good laugh.

The EPs outro, ‘The Artist’, sets an utterly different tone to the rest of the album.  It has the end of a story feeling that I crave with outro tracks.  A beautiful guitar melody ensues with, later, a heavier guitar tone.  When the track kicks in the emotions I feel don’t change.  It is still beautifully heavy with albeit the typical double bass drum moments and chugging guitars it somehow all feels new and unheard.  I genuinely find my body tensing up for the solo section and waiting for the peak.  This track is without doubt the crème de la crème of this album and it shows the extent of the band’s technical ability and song-writing skill.  I do, however, find myself somewhat disappointed at the end of the track; it feels little, as if they weren’t sure how to end and so faded out.  I feel a tiny bit cheated.

Overall, I really like this EP and I genuinely believe that a lot of hard work and effort has gone into it.  I love the cross over of hardcore, metalcore and even the somewhat random ska moments.  The tone of the whole band comes across as well rehearsed and dedicated.  I would say this EP is definitely worth buying, even if I am a tad disappointed by the ending of the last track.

Good show lads, I loved it, near perfect for an EP.  I guess I can’t always get what I want.