Album Review: Modern Earth by Landscapes
Landscapes is a hardcore metal band that hails from Somerset, UK and who have been performing together since 2009. The band’s two previous releases, Reminiscence in 2010 and Life’s Gone Wrong in 2012, received accolades from critics and fans alike. Their new LP, Modern Earth, which will drop in April, on Pure Noise Records, continues their quest for musical greatness. The band, which is fronted by Shaun Milton on vocals, includes Kai Shelton and Martin Hutton on guitars, Tom Paulton on bass and Jordon Urch on drums, has performed alongside bands like Caspian, the Used, Stray from the Path, The Ghost Inside, Amity Affliction among others in the UK.
Modern Earth blends complex melodies with a hardcore wall of sound that doesn’t relent. The guitars weave their magic against a steady foundation of drums and bass while Milton’s vocals soar over the instrumentals before he offers a one-two punch of pure energy that serves to drive their message home. Sebastian Berning of German online music magazine Powermetal.de described the music of Landscapes as a ″dark-lyric’ed melodic hardcore″ and he’s not wrong.
Like most hardcore metal music once the LP starts it almost physically assaults your senses as it rips through the tracks to its eventual ending. However, in a departure from the majority of music in this genre, the tracks provide a variety of tempos and a range of keys that are alternately high energy and dark introspective melody. Fans of hardcore metal who are unfamiliar with Landscapes should give Modern Earth a listen, good writing and skilled musicians provide an audio experience that will resonate even after the last track fades out.
Modern Earth will drop on April 8, 2016, on Pure Noise records and will be available on iTunes and the band’s website.
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