Lack

Denmark's Lack harnesses a good amount of screaming anger, at times recalling a second-rate Botch, but with a lot more melody. What makes the band interesting is the upbeat melodic hardcore they mix in with the chaotic metal-core, separating them from the endless sea of boring metal-core bands out there today. Those semi-useful vocals get a bit grating, but that gets thrown out for some cleaner singing now and again, although not nearly enough. However, Lack is in the upper echelon of the metal-core scene with this one, thanks to their willingness to throw down some clean sounds and foot-tapping moments. Some of the lyrics are excellent, some aren't, while the packaging is above average (except it's on that super-fingerprint gloss black paper, ugh) and the production sounds open, roomy and natural. Lack apparently feels quite bad about selling records and therefore being "capitalists." I guess we should boycott this one to make them happy; too bad, because it's quite good.