COVE - 'We Were Once Lost' EP Review

Tracklist:

1. ...

2. No Place

3. Dead Sea

4. Buried

5. Sonder

6. Found At Last

7. An Honour

Metalcore as a genre is heavily contested, with a lot of publishers and reviewers yammering on that bands are constantly 'reinventing it'. To me, the truth seems to be that as time goes on, a lot of bands just seem to move away from it or fall somewhere on either side, struggling to achieve that perfect fusion of musical styles. When COVE kicks in with their opening track from 'We Were Once Lost', it almost feels like a stifling welcome home. Clearly these boys are no strangers to making a massive sound, with Oz Craggs at Hidden Track Studios capturing this perfectly in this EP. Sam King's vocals are consistently strong throughout the entire EP, alongside the sharp guitar sounds from both Pete Woolven and Ben Brazier that remind me of Every Time I Die. At times, there is an impending sense of doom, with tracks like "An Honour" that reminds you that this EP isn't over just yet. It's only when Charlie Smith (Bass) and Jack Bowdery (Drums) kick in that the track smacks you right around the ears. These boys aren't in the business of overcomplicating things, they're making music you can move to and writing lines that can be shouted back at them live. Although I felt that each track in this EP has a lot to offer, I particularly enjoyed 'Dead Sea'. The fast paced drums that compliments the solid riffs and creative use of dischords come together to form a very cleverly structured track. The fulfilling resolve offered by the guitars during a thick and heavy breakdown push on, all leading to an ambient yet sudden outro that makes you want to come back and listen to it again. This track will make it's way into your playlists. With the intermission track 'Sonder' breaking up the bang and crash, 'We Were Once Lost' has left me hoping that the band would explore clean vocals further. King definitely has the lungs for it and it seems like the contrast would add another dimension to what is quite clearly an effective writing process. In short, give COVE a listen and keep an eye on them. They aren't 'reinventing' Metalcore, they're reminding us what it actually is.