Labels: Shark City Records
Review by: Samuel Fowler
Mmmmm… Metallic hued H/C you say? you do indeed. As a rule,
generally a genre that needs approaching with both a sense of healthy
skepticism, and a 10 foot pole. A press sheet connecting them to a
smorgasboard of excessively boring bands, and an assertion that
they’re “one of the UK undergrounds best kept secrets” doesn’t help
matters. How many secrets does the UK underground have? and where
exactly does it keep them all?
Lavotchkin are actually extremely easy to pidgeonhole, thankfully not
being related to that dark and horrible path of metalcore that
involves teenage Immortal fans trying to sound like Bleeding Through.
In actual fact they sound very much like they could have been snuggled
happily on the In At the Deep End Records roster about 4 years ago.
Forceful vocals punching through murky bass heavy rumblings. They
remind me very much of something like P>S>P or Love that Kills.
However unfortunately Lavotchkin don’t quite make enough capital of
what makes both of the aforementioned bands particularly fucking
great. They definately have the heft and the brawn down pat, sadly
however they huddle together in the middle, unwilling to take too many
steps into the swirling currents beyond.
I’ll be keeping an eye roving for Lavotchkins next effort. They (to
steal the cliche) show promise, however it’s unclear yet if this is
the promise to start channeling that shit that made all the early
2000’s UK Metalcore scene so special, or the promise to start sounding
like the rest of the shitty Holy Roar core crowd.