What is Metalcore to my ears? It is that kind of metal that mixes crazy screamed vocals with softness and in some cases even pop and rap. The genre never did much for me as I was never a great fan of bands like LINKIN PARK or BRING ME THE HORIZON. However, I do recognize the enormous success of these bands and I can see the appeal especially for the younger generation. I will keep that in mind in this review. In the California Bay area there is a band created around 2011 called KINGDOM OF GIANTS that are getting their head out of the pack it seems. They are releasing an EP with 6 tracks called Bleeding Star via Sharptone Records.

The first track is “Asphalt” that seems to be the working track of this EP as you can check a video of this song on the tubes. It has all the ingredients of the aforementioned bands. Keyboards and some electronic beats for that futuristic vibes, and then the very heavy riff with the distorted guitars and the rest of the package. Impressive the voice of singer Dana Willax if he is the one with the screams. "Scorpion" is another cool track with a mean guitar riff that does not last much as the electronic part comes in followed by the chorus with all their power and heaviness. This one is more clean vocal with the screams as accents. By the way, the band has 2 singers and the other one is Stephen Rezza who also plays keyboards and has a very nice range with a clean voice, if he is the one that does this. We get to the crazy “Bloodworm” that for me gets the best of the EP so far. With touches of industrial Metal, this track reminds me of MINISTRY and CONVERGE. We follow with “Smoke” that takes us back to the total electronic side ala DEPECHE MODE with heavy guitars and some screams. This is what I do not like much in my metal. I would rather have the other way around with more heavy vocals in the forefront. Am I being too petty?

We go back to a heavy and more riff oriented track in “Wasted Space”. The band has 2 competent guitar players in Stephen Martin and Max Bremer , but they do not like to solo very much. This is another aspect of the genre that is not appealing to me, no guitar solos. The backbone of the band is also solid with drummer Truman Berlin and bass player Levi Norris. Levi, please tell the other members of the band that your bass is hidden in the mix. Tell them that you also do not want to follow the guitar lines all the time and that you want to express yourself a little more in the compositions. You are welcome! We end this EP with “Landslide” that is another perpetrator of the same formula of soft and heavy. The vocal melody is very good on this one and I will say this is another highlight of this short work. For the genre I am confident that the band excels for sure. I believe this to be their 6th release since 2011 and it shows that the boys know exactly what they're doing and I do not see any difference from the greats of the genre. We should be hearing more from them soon.