Arms Like Anchors
In A Golden Reign

Arms Like Anchors grew up with Your Demise, Ghost Inside, Bring Me The Horizon, and Parkway Drive on their stereo, names that in their own way influenced their birth and stylistic growth. In less than two years of existence, they have released two EPs, “The Strangers,” which highlighted the musicians' still uncertain ideas about which path to take, and today “In A Golden Reign,” decidedly of a whole different nature.

In fact, just the opening of “Friends Close, Enemies Closer” is enough to understand that something has changed in the group's operations: a greater attention to songwriting, studio production worthy of the best releases in the industry, and catchy tracks that will greatly appeal to those who make new school metalcore their style. The impact of the record is definitely surprising; the tracks are loaded enough to be offered live, and the vocals, varying from growls to screams, do not disappoint. Overall, everything is fine, at least until the female voice makes its entrance, undoubtedly of good quality, but which is at odds with what Arms Like Anchors offers. No offense to the band, but whereas its first appearance on the EP can be surprising, its repetition in other tracks makes everything decidedly flat. It’s better to go for a full-on attack, and it doesn’t matter if there’s a risk of sounding similar to hundreds of other bands; the genre doesn’t allow for much variation anyway, so it’s better to focus entirely on quality. Despite this, the tracks have valid reasons to exist, proving to be catchy also thanks to keyboards that can open up unexpected scenarios in a Bleeding Through style. Few breakdowns are offered and there is space for guitars with heavy-oriented riffs, which is decidedly appreciable for a band that is accustomed to defining itself as metalcore. An EP halfway there, very strong on its “core” side, with the melodic side needing some reworking.