Of all the spurts of hype awarded to bands seemingly at random, We Came Every bit Romans' was probably one of the weirdest. Their commencement 2 albums did nothing whatsoever, but when 2013's Tracing Back Roots came around, of a sudden they were thrown upwardly in that location equally one of metalcore'due south breaking aristocracy that only couldn't fail. The strangest affair was that, even now, information technology's hard to see why that was the example; it was definitely an improvement past adopting a more than pop-heavy sound, merely it was still nothing special, and nothing that would've been improved on their hopelessly banal self-titled follow-up.

 Even now there still feels like a few attempts to plough We Came As Romans into legitimate players, simply that'southward basically a losing game. Want proof? Just look at Cold Like State of war, the album that is supposed to marking the sextet'southward reversion to a darker, heavier audio, and even though it does ultimately practice that, it's tough to say whether it's been a worthwhile endeavour. This isn't a terrible album, merely it has so few distinguishing features that it can't be called a good 1 either, basically humid downwards to a slight update for electronically-driven metalcore that hasn't been exciting or relevant in years, and the fact that We Came As Romans' take is then sterilised and devoid of involvement makes it all the more difficult to endorse.

 To the band'south credit, they tend to accept a more natural command of melody than a lot of other metalcore bands, and even in Common cold Similar War's edging towards some more blunt heaviness, those big popular choruses are notwithstanding bolstered on for what can but be a fallback option. Tracks like Lost In The Moment and If There's Goose egg To Run across definitely work in that regard (the latter also having a decently technical guitar line in its opening), and even though the Punk Goes Popular covers are clearly starting to take a hold seeing equally Two Hands' verse melody is basically a cut-and-paste task of The Weeknd's Tin can't Feel My Face up, it, along with Kyle Pavone's slickest, most powerful hook at to the lowest degree make for a track that could reasonably be deemed a highlight. Occasionally they develop a habit of going off on an overly melodic tangent and neglecting any existent metallic elements entirely – the worst offender being the horrible AutoTuned carol Hope Me – but at to the lowest degree it's there at all; they take at to the lowest degree one characteristic that defines this as a We Came As Romans album.

 Only that likewise begs the question of how focused they really are on this album, particularly on the recursive metalcore style that'll apparently piece of work for them. That's not to say that Cold Like War doesn't have moments where, for this make of metalcore, We Came As Romans are convincing as a heavier act; Wasted Age and the buildup of Vultures With Clipped Wings mightn't offer much in the way of novelty but are fit for purpose, and Encoder's glitching electronics that brand way for Dave Stephens' scream to take the reins can exist a surprisingly abrasive cut for a band and then fixated on polish. Only that fixation is likewise the problem, with and so much of this album suffering from losing any existent meat due to product constraints, or simply leaning on such an outdated take on metalcore that there'due south then picayune to be gleaned from information technology. We Came As Romans at least have the courtesy to give the electro-metalcore formula a slight update here (the trap beat out on If There'southward Nothing To See says a lot), but it's still a glaringly obvious effort to sideslip dorsum into the style where they made their proper name, and it just doesn't piece of work.

 It leads to We Came As Romans ending up right back at square one, as a band with so trivial stock thanks to having zero to say compared to numerous other acts doing the aforementioned thing. But at least back then, this was at to the lowest degree fashionable; right now, Common cold Like State of war is only a dated, utterly redundant entry into the modern metalcore catalogue, not necessarily awful only having no shining positives either. Even in this exact branch, in that location'south The Discussion Alive, Wage State of war and and so many more doing this sort of thing with more power, vigour and just overall excitement. We Came As Romans' moment in the sun might be long gone past now, but to see them try and scramble back into it as they are here is just bordering on lamentable at this point.

5/10

For fans of: Wage State of war, I Prevail, The Color Morale
Words by Luke Nuttall

'Cold Like State of war' by We Came As Romans is released on 20th October on Sharptone Records.