9th August 2018

Review: “The Final Breed” EP by I Am Noah

From Trier, Germany, Metalcore quintet I Am Noah have been splashing in the waters of the German Metal Scene since 2016’s “The Verdict”. Released in January 2018, this follow up 4 track EP aims to solidify their status while providing a stop gap between the previous and next full length album for Bastardized Recordings. “The Abandoned” starts with a chilling synth and a buried industrial drum sound that bursts into chugging Tech infused Metalcore riffage. The synth intro is something the band utilized well with “The Verdict” and it’s no surprise to have it interweaved into the music here. After that sound drops the band change down the guitars for something akin to the likes of Killswitch Engage. A brief industrial styled break followed by a pacy breakdown adds texture before breaking back into a Metalcore start date rhythm lead part reminiscent of All That Remains mid career material. “Crystal Eyes” introduction is a melodic repeating guitar loop that then steps up into the same loop for the opening guitar riff. Dropping back to the melodic aspect adds a punch when the sound steps up and the breakdowns kick in, repeating in hardcore fashion. The tempation to replace the unclean vocals with cleans during the gloriously beautiful lead work is thankfully avoided and the place doesn’t slow down as a result.

“Born to Lose” cuts the intro completely and instead brings in the vocal after just a couple of seconds. Introducing some Melodic Hardcore tones akin to Evergreen Terrace in the verse sections and blast beats into the drum work is a nice variation. Again, steering clear of the tempation to add a clean vocal layer into the song where the music lends itself is a breath of fresh air for Metalcore. “Blinded by Abundance” brings back the lengthy introduction, this time with guitars before piling into lead riffage underpinned by breakdowns. This time around there is a more melodic unclean vocal but it’s far from a clean one. I Am Noah then thrown in some buried electronics and an autotuned vocal break that doesn’t work as well as it could before fading to close with the reading chorus and breakdown cycle. While “The Final Breed” doesn’t do anything new, what it does do is well crafted and we’ll worth some attention [7/10]