Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Here's a band from the south of England who are currently working on a full length project called 'Fortress' which is due for release in the spring. In the meantime, this four-track EP is designed as a bit of an appetite whetter. And it certainly does that. Built around the guitar, vocal and songwriting skills of Chris Wickland, Metamorphic kick off with a huge production of "He's In Me" which manages to encompass some serious guitar soloing, a bit of wailing bluesy harmonica and plenty of sax. I kept on expecting an appearance from the kitchen sink! "Just A Living Faith" sits strongly on a riffy guitar and a few toots of the sax as the band basically jam. The final cut "Master Of The Universe" sees the band going in a completely different direction with a synth-driven groove interplaying with the customary guitar and sax attack but its faux futuristic feel sounds more dated that the general '70s rock vibe of the rest of this. The simply named "Gospel Blues" is also weak because the lyrics are so cheesy and the actual mix of the song lets it down where the vocals are too swamped by everything else. At this point if the band have the opportunity to focus things for the album, they are capable of creating something special but this EP of their work in progress illustrates that things are still patchy.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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