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THE BRAWLING : The Brawling (EP)

From ska to metal – there’s not many can claim that path. The brawling are Ben Jurisich, Rob Sharp and Anthony Davies – all ex WBC (Wyndham Bowling Club), who are now exploring their metal leanings. It sounds very therapeutic so far, straight up metal for the most, apart from the puzzling emo break in track two. The Brawling formed in 2007 and original compositions were created and worked on at The Manor (with the help of Reuben Rowntree from SAE) in Auckland. Their influences included top gunners such as Mastodon, Lamb Of God and Dillinger Escape Plan. Needing a vocalist the band recruited Regan Hughes – ex-Second Theory and currently in Left For Wolves, a role he fulfils ably though only the first four tracks have vocals. Unfortunately bass player Rob left for London once the bass tracks were done leaving Ben and Anthony trooping on to bring this release to fruition, and hence it’s taken a further year to get it out. Their music achieves its aims of being (semi) brutally heavy without sacrificing a sense of groove, but with the last two tracks instrumental (and ending up sounding a bit too like Metallica), one feels somewhat robbed. Hopefully someone will offer their vocal services – the metal backbone is in place and it’s a promising start.

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