As Lions are a band that you will no doubt be hearing a lot from in 2017. This is largely due to the release of their debut album Selfish Age and for the considerable push, they are getting. For those of you that saw Five Finger Death Punch headline Wembley in 2015 you will have seen them in a supporting role there as well as on Trivium’s extensive UK tour last year and they have been up and down America with bands like FFDP and Shinedown. The band also boasts 3 members of now defunct band Rise to Remain.
With all of that out of the way, it has to be said, this album is a massive disappointment all across the board. It’s obvious from the moment that you hit play to the minute the album ends that this is an album intended for the American radio audience, boasting a soulless production job that strangles all personality out of the songs. Even worse than that is the fact that there isn’t a single memorable song on here, barring the lead single ‘White Flags’ which is one of four hold over tracks from the bands EP Aftermath that also features on here.
Austin Dickinson is no doubt a good singer and has a good range on him, and live there is no denying that, but here it is so overproduced and full of effects that you simply cannot get anything of note from it, which is a real shame. Musically, there is nothing new on offer here that you couldn’t find on any other release of this type, only done to a better degree, this is 5th generation warped tour approved radio metalcore made by committee and used to soundtrack WWE pay per views.
As Lions are a band that seems to be lacking an identity of their own and appear to be going through the motions. For a band that is coming through a cloud of hype and label backing, this is the McDonalds equivalent of metal, mass produced, easily digestible and completely disposable. There is nothing to say that somewhere down the line As Lions couldn’t evolve into a much more interesting band. but as far as first impressions go this isn’t a particularly strong one.
Selfish Age is out now on Better Noise Records.
