DROID – Droid

If any band has had a great starting position for their debut album, Droid would win the cake. Korn guitarist James Shaffer promotes the band wherever and whenever he can – no surprise, as the Droid debut album also is the first release of Shaffer’s Emotional Syphon records label. It is probably also due to this connection that Deftones singer Chino Moreno is heard as a guest on one of the tracks, “Vengeance Is Mine.“

Droid have a history with Korn, as they have toured repeatedly with the guys, and are currently still doing that. But, if someone thinks band and Shaffer would have played it safe, they would be mislead: Droid is everything but a Korn clone. For starters, the Californian five have no NuMetal tendencies at all. Their whole sound is equally deeply rooted in Hardcore and (Death) Metal, with a hard groove and almost as many growls as Hardcore shouts. Soundwise, the band fits much better in New York than Long Beach, but with this album they are for sure one of California’s hardest, meanest, and most hateful bands. Their song titles like “Fueled By Hate,“ “God Of Anger,“ “Together We Die,“ or “Behind Dead Eyes“ leave no room for interpretation. And, the music is composed to fit the titles.

Droid manages to write good Metalcore songs with the emphasis on core, and the whole album has no really bad track. Crunchy guitars always lay the groundwork for vocalist James Eason to scream his dark emotions into the microphone, while a solid groove and bass background creates a thick and heavy sound. The riffing is intense and straight, but not simple, and this is what sets them aside from most Hardcore bands – the two guitar players Jamie Teissere and Bruce Childress can actually handle their instruments extremely well. Due to the band’s style, the fine points of the riffs are sometimes lost in the storm of sound the band produces, but it is definitely worth listening closer. Other than that, it is simply 40 minutes of pure power, hate, and ferocity.

That is also the disadvantage of the album. Every song is a 100% in-your-face relentless assault that makes you bang your head and will wear you down. The question is if you’re able and willing to go the distance with 46 minutes of aggression. As every song by itself will make the Metalcore fan bang with delight, twelve of those songs is a challenge. Therefore, the score is for the whole album. If you would be content with picking a few tracks each time you put this album into your player, one point can easily be added to the overall score.