SANZEN is a name that I hear for the first time in my life, and the fact that this album is being released through In At The Deep End Records - a label that hasn't got any good bands (my humble opinion) - made me face the album in a pretty negative way before even having listened to it. After I gave a chance to This Is Gun City, I realized that it is not that bad after all.

The UK metallers SANZEN (really, what does this name mean?) were formed in Nottingham, UK and from what I could make out, they have no other releases than this album. As you can easily understand, This Is Gun City is the band's debut album and In At The Deep End is the label that decided to release it.

SANZEN are playing a kind of melodic and technical Hardcore, something that may strongly remind you of EVERY TIME I DIE, as well as bands like NOVEMBER COMING FIRE and KNUCKLEDUST. The band is mostly based on its extreme riffing and precise playing, with non-standard tempo and harsh vocals. SANZEN's music could be described as high-energy metallic Hardcore, with many Mathcore (call me THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) touches. The production is also raw and adds quite some heaviness to the overall result.

This Is Gun City is definitely not my cup of tea, since this music is not the one that I would die to listen to (even though I adore some bands in this side of Hardcore music), but I believe that fans of this kind of music will surely love it. SANZEN are a strong weapon for the - in my humble opinion - dead UK Metal scene, and if they have the help they need, they will probably manage to achieve many things in the near future.