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Humanity Check E.P.

      
         
         
         
     
             
Humanity Check are a melodic thrash/death metal band from the Republic Of Ireland, founded by Jordan McCormac and Mike Sheahan in 2015. Delivering a sonic blast of thrash, groove and melodic death metal, the three piece band released their self titled E.P. in 2017.    
             
With six songs across forty minutes, the debut release from Humanity Check is weighty and full of a diverse range of musical styles. The opening song 'Nether' chimes in at nine minutes and slowly builds towards a mid tempo heavy chug. For a band that describe themselves as a thrash/death metal band, it comes as a big surprise to hear the vocals sounding more like a hardcore or metalcore shouty style. 'Nether' is a very good heavy thrash sounding song, maybe a bit too long to be an opening song, but what it does offer, is a wandering journey through various musical styles. Intense and much heavier than 'Nether', 'War Is Coming' stomps and stamps its way mercilessly through the airways. Pummelling the senses, 'War Is Coming'  is a relentless chug, cutting and thrusting a savage path as it rambles on.    
             
At six minutes in length 'Made To Suffer' picks up tempo and intensity as it lays bare its thrash metal roots. Fierce and ferocious vocals remain shouty and a little out of place. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there are fans out there of the shouty metalcore style that are gonna love this release, but for me, the vocals are a half a foot step away from the thrash/death metal style. 'Once A Coward' picks up the pace and is a full throttle thrash metal assault. For the first time since the E.P. began, I find myself head banging and finally raising a smile as the infectious romping rhythms grab hold of me. With the music this good, my beef with the vocals are less important, as high velocity brutal thrash metal is more about the release of anger and angst via violent head banging and ferocious foot stamping, than it is to singing along to.    
             
So it's with great glee that 'Homeward' picks up the pace and charges on at a frenetic pace, bulldozing over anything that stands in its way. Fiercely aggressive, 'Homeward' is merciless, smacking heads hard as it thunders on by. And even though I am still not won over by the vocals, the musical style that 'Homeward' offers is the winning feature here. The final song 'Throne Of Corpses' continues the thrash metal assault, flying along at a very high pace. Frenetic and furious 'Throne Of Corpses' finally features some death metal vocals...only in a very small quantity though. Still, it shows the band are capable of delivering death metal vocals alongside the musical style of thrash.    
             
Overall, intense and very heavy thrash metal with hardcore/metalcore style vocals, Humanity Check offer something from a wide range of musical genres.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Humanity Check    
             
             
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