A solid debut album from Nex
Looking more like Tool or Greenday with their pinstripe suits and waistcoats, Nex are most definitely in the metal genre. This is made very obvious in the first 3 seconds of the album with 'Schadenfreude' as the vocals get very screamy very quickly. Nex hail from Huddersfield and this is their rather strong debut album.
'Schadenfreude' is a solid metal song, with screaming vocals, nice chorusing and the quieter vocal parts are quite reminiscent of Machinehead's "Left Unfinished" though that is where the resemblance ends. The song is fairly solid and certainly opens the album up well.
'Fading' continues the trend with changes in pace and structure, with some catchy riffs in the verse. The addition of distorted, background guitar in places really gives the song some more body. The vocals are screamed a little more and the solo is longer. Seems like Nex are building us up.
'The Worm' felt quite poignant to me, and the lyrics are quite inspired. It certainly got to me. The song is a good combination of quiet sections and full-on metal, though I'm not too sure about the strange, almost synth-sounding, guitar bridge. 'Friday the 13th' is another rolling metal ballad which will make your feet move. 'Boneyard' changes the pace a little more with a slower, more repetitive beat. 'Scissor Suicide' shows off a little more of the guitarist's skill with a nice intro riff.
'Uncle Sam' is the amusing song on the album, that seems much more punk than anything else. The lyrics certainly made me laugh, almost as much as Wednesday 13th's "Bad Things". It's typical rhyming fayre with a catchy beat. Reminds me quite a lot of 'My Cat's Gay' by Slunt. I doubt I'll ever hear "APPLE-PIE" screamed in a cookie monster style from any other band anytime soon. 'OMG' doesn't really make a lot of sense and is even sillier. It seemed like a homage to 'System of a Down' with the baby vocals, the growling and warbling, but sadly, none of the catchy-ness. 'Tick' is one song that does stand out from the rest and does have that 'System' feeling. There are nu-metal elements to it as there are throughout the album, but the change in vocal styles to something more silly and spoken. This seems like one of the anthems of the album. 'The Hand that Feeds' feels very strong to me, with strong bass lines and a nice guitar solo. I feel this is one I'll remember.
Comparisons will be drawn against Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine no doubt. The metal stylings are quite similar at first glance. There are differences though. Trivium's more confident vocals and guitar solos and Bullet's screaming passion set them apart from Nex, but then, looking deeper, Nex seem to have elements of these bands and others. Perhaps the closest band to Nex is Mendeed, who seem to be good friends with Nex unsurprisingly. The album feels solid, well produced. A lot of the songs seem familiar and similar to each other but there are some gems here. It'll be interesting to see where Nex goes next. I hope they aren't pandering to the accessible metal market. I feel they aren't.