My ears, my poor poor ears
Reviews can be impossible to write when a record gives you nothing to go on. No remote hint of inspiration, excitement or imagination. In the space of these five tracks, Skirmish don’t so much as drop one iota of thought or passion into the mix. There’s a distinct lack of originality – or anything else resembling it – on this mini album from the Watford-based band.
They’d like to think of themselves as flying the flag for UK hardcore, and frankly if that’s the case, UK hardcore should just keel over and give in now - with tracks like ‘Efrafa’ and ‘Waste Of Space’ used as evidence for the culling. This is nothing to be proud of. The press release compares them to two great US bands, namely Planes Mistaken For Stars and Poison The Well. Unfortunately, that appears to be yet another fallacy. There is none of the jackhammer-esque heaviness that PMFS slay us with, nor the pure metalcore fury and passon that PTW worked their way to the top of the ranks with.
Poorly recorded and even poorer musicianship, Skirmish aren’t flying the flag for anything other than mediocrity and overly average faux-hardcore. NYHC this is not, more like nu-metal than anything else. Makes you wonder if the UK is even capable of producing decent hardcore bands. If Skirmish are representative of this, the response would be a resounding ‘no’.