SMTOne of the few bands toiling away incessantly whilst flying the flag for British Metal around the globe are Northampton’s Sacred Mother Tongue. Out of The Darkness builds nicely from the groundwork done on their debut full-length The Ruin Of Man, but this time around they have the backing of EMI distribution and are backed by The End Records state-side. Given this weighty backing the record company state that the band have similarities to Children Of Bodom, Metallica, Alter Bridge and Alice In Chains…which is such a wide range of styles that really all this tells you is that the record company don’t know how to pigeon-hole them! Which is a good thing, but I’ll try and look at slightly less obvious, sales motivated influences for the purpose of this review.

OK, there IS some Alexi Laiho in the riffs and guitar style, but with the pedigree of guitarist Andy James it should be expected. He never takes the obvious “it’s the middle of the song – solo time” option and his playing and writing on each song is well-crafted and intricate. There’s always something new to listen for and add to that the able backing of Josh Gurner on Bass and expert drumming from Lee Newell and this is one tight unit. Vocalist Darrin South has great delivery and one of those voices that sounds familiar but I just can’t put my finger on. His style means that SMT remind me at times of Marshall Law and Wraith (two rather overlooked 90’s British bands), occasionally an English accented heavier Black Stone Cherry, or at other times, along with the music, Wolf and the clean vocalled side of Into Eternity – which ties in nicely with SMT’s musical virtuosities.

The overall effect is that the band can kick in with a Bodom-esque riff-fest but balance it with a memorable vocal hook. Just check out ‘Demons’, ‘Seven’ and the excellent ‘A Light Will Shine’ as prime examples. They really don’t sound exactly like anyone else out there, which is always the best way to be and have the admirable quality of sounding similar to three different bands in one song all at the same time. I hope the Metal world take SMT to their hearts and give the UK a Metal Band to be proud of. They have a wide range of appeal – just look at all the bands mentioned above – and they appear to be forward thinking as well as having a good influence of their home country’s rich Metal heritage. A thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and…well…METAL album! A worthy flag flyer indeed.

(8/10  Andy Barker)

http://www.sacredmothertongue.com/