The U.K. is often hailed as the home of Heavy Metal; however, this is normally associated to the Midlands and Birmingham, think BLACK SABBATH or JUDAS PRIEST. With the rise of accessibility to Heavy Metal and its successive acknowledgement in more main stream circles we have seen more Metalcore bands try to bridge the gap with Pop and some have been very successful in this aspect, again think BRING ME THE HORIZON.

LOATHE were formed in 2014 and have enjoyed success since, with shows lined up later in 2020 supporting bands such as OF MICE AND MEN, SILVERSTEIN and BURY TOMORROW. Their second full length studio album was released in February through Sharptone Records.

The artwork for this album is very simple and doesn't jump out at me. In fact, the area which caught my eye the most is a rectangular white patch, I actually thought that my computer had some damaged pixels and that it wasn't displaying correctly.

"I Let It In And It Took Everything" opens with a calming and serene orchestral style track titles "Theme" that conjures images of a foggy spring morning as the sun is rising in the country. You are led into a complete false sense of security before things really heat up. Next, we bounce into "Aggressive Evolution" and it is exactly that, heavy, aggressive and confusing. Musically I would liken some of the themes found to a mash up between NINE INCH NAILS and THREE DAYS GRACE whilst the vocal style is something else altogether. With impressive low growls and melodic clean sections this music is constantly evolving (see what I did there?)

"451 Days" is a bridging track that again slows down to bring an element of calm to the album, the first thing that I attempted to do was understand the significance of the time stated. However, I could only conclude that it is approximately 1 year and 3 months.... Which to me is nothing special.... However, to band members of LOATHE it may have some serious significance.

With our next track, "Red Room" we are again lulled into a sense of security before being torn apart, the two-minute track delivers on energy, brutality and is a delectable demonstration of Connor's skill on the set.

With "Is It Really You" we come across what I would describe as the LOATHE's ballad offering. It is a lot cleaner than previous tracks and shows a depth of understanding and knowledge to be able to produce such conflicting and successful tracks on an album.

"Heavy Is The Head That Falls With The Weight Of A Thousand Thoughts" (I just wanted to type out the longest track name for shits and giggles) is exactly what it says. Heavy. With an almost Black Metal introduction we are then brought back into their more Metalcore roots with aggressive heavy riffs and a pounding beat accented by the vocal line. Whilst in the outro we are treated to a gentle guitar offering to reinstate some calm. This continues into "A Sad Cartoon" which has flashes of the heavier elements to the band that we saw earlier whilst keeping a lighter macabre feel throughout the entire track.

Finally, we come to the album's namesake "I Let It In And It Took Everything" and I have to say that LOATHE left nothing in the studio. Demonstrating their full understanding of the genre. They have developed some fantastic tracks that flow incredibly well and are very memorable. With a Prog meets Metalcore feel I think that they are capitalizing on their success well and it is clear to see where their success has come from. I look forward to catching them sometime soon.