Wake Up Cold

Deliver Me From Evil (2003)

Jim

Eh, if anything, bands like this fill a niche. This is one of those albums that you hear and say "oh… it sounds exactly how I thought it would." From the cover art to the song titles, everything about this album is about as cut and dry as it gets.

Wake Up Cold brings the mosh, and then brings it again, and then brings it again, and so on. To their credit, in terms of moshcore bands, there's a lot worse out there, but still, this album really lacks any sort of stand out qualities. Essentially, this band is everything you would expect from a breakdown oriented band, but aside from that, they really don't offer anything else. Some of the riffs are a bit better than the standard chugging often associated with this style, but they don't pop up nearly enough to salvage this release and make it anything other than mediocre. These guys can undoubtedly play their instruments, but the flashes of creativity are all too brief. This band could end up being a lot better in the future, but as of now, I wouldn't regard this as anything special. Bands such as this one are a dime a dozen, and with so many others fighting for the same audience, this band is going to have to make better use of its abilities.

Basically, if moshy, metallic hardcore is what you're in the market for, Wake Up Cold fits the bill. If you really, really want to hear breakdowns over and over and over again, Wake Up Cold fits the bill. But if you're looking for something with a little more originality or even some personality, I'd look elsewhere. I'm well aware of the fact that bands like this aren't trying to be "deep" or "groundbreaking," and I'm not asking for that, what I would like to see is something a little more interesting. They have the tools, lets see if they can put them to use.