Dangerkids – Collapse (2013)

This is the first time I’ve come across Dangerkids.  A 5-piece metalcore band from the same record label that brought us such names as The Acacia Strain and Emarosa.  Now Rise Records bring us Dangerkids and I must say some of the names they have to live up to are pretty big, but I think they handle themselves very well.

I really love the intro to this album, ‘countdown’.  It sounds like a cross between old Linkin Park and Asking Alexandria, but this band hold their own.  It has a standard ‘lets go’ and that kicks it all off.  The first track is heavy but also has a perfect balance of synthesis that metalcore bands are such big fans of in recent years.  Just one track in and this album has covered all my essential bases for a metalcore album.

‘Light escapes’ has a real Linkin Park vibe which throws my confidence in this song, but I think they bring it back with the chorus.  Again this song is perfectly balanced with outstanding vocals and a perfect mix of instruments.  A good amount of clean and dirty vocals, I genuinely cannot fault the basics of this album.

The quality stays the same through ‘hostage’.  I love the gang vocals throughout the album and it sounds like the band really means what they are playing and singing.  This for me is fundamental.  I can feel the songs, the pain and effort gone into this album.  They haven’t made this for the sake of it, they’ve made it because they love it.

‘Destroy yourself’ is a beautiful track.   It starts out very chilled, with the exception of one dirty vocal.  This song is very close to being ‘a loser anthem’, I can see it being very popular with people who can relate to the lyrics.

I’m now halfway through the album and am still yet to find fault with it.  It’s undeniably a brilliant album, and to top it off it’s Dangerkids’ debut.

There is a graceful and well-formed 50 second break after ‘unmade’.  ‘Where the sky breaks’ is a stunning instrumental that I was not expecting, my only problem with it is that it wasn’t long enough.  However, it does flow seamlessly into ‘paper thin’ which yet again is a magnificently well-crafted track and my personal favorite from this album.

I find ‘fractions’ a bit limp, only in comparison to the rest of the album, but nonetheless slightly tepid.  ‘Dust’, another instrumental, is not as strong as the last but still a good all-rounder.

The ending track ‘cut me out’ is yet another flawless song.  My only fault with it, I don’t think it should be the outro.  It’s a strong song and it would work brilliantly anywhere throughout this album, but I just don’t feel like it’s a outro.  I think ‘unmade’ would be more suitable, a slightly slower song to bring down the tempo.  Though I do find ‘unmade’ the weakest song on the album, with some work it could be a good ending.

Overall, I cant really fault this album.  A few things here and there, and I would say they could explore their boundaries a bit more, but it is very safe as a debut for a relatively new band.  I would say it is an all round solid effort and a solid album that is definitely worth a listen.