3rd October 2019

Review: “Carry The Weight/From The First Note” by We Came As Romans

The second in what seems to be a run of two track singles from various artists signed to SharpTone Records sees Detroit Michigan Metalcore band We Came As Romans offering up their first new material since the passing of clean vocalist Kyle Pavone of an accidental drug overdose in August 2018. The band have toured 5th album “Cold Like War” to honour his memory and announced he will not be replaced in their lineup. Interestingly it was back in April that the band announced they were entering the studio to record their 6th album, so whether like Knocked Loose did with “Mistakes Like Fractures” one of these cuts will appear on that album or whether this is strictly a standalone release remains to be seen.

Given the song titles it would appear that both songs are written about Pavone in some way and that is something you could only admire in the band, to express their feelings about the loss of a loved one. “Carry The Weight” starts off with the ache of a Linkin Park song before bursting into some brutal uncleans and riffage that is among the heaviest that We Came As Romans have offered, bordering on DJent in places. The sung chorus “Carry the weight, broken and chained” is catchy with a sing-a-long quality while everything the band offered musically on “Cold Like War” has been turned up. Haunting eerie atmospheric guitar work is buried underneath the mix and nuances out like programmed electronics. The drum sound is huge. It’s a stone cold winner.

The heart of a Pop Punk song loaded with Metalcore bounce and riffs, “From The First Note” is the heart felt open letter to Kyle Pavone from We Came As Romans that simply says, we love you, we miss you, we can’t replace you and we’re carrying on for you. There is a sense of fist clenched unity with tears on faces in the song that is not only a sing-a-long but also has enough weight of sentiment to have its own gravitational pull. The electronics are pure Pavone and and musically it ends up coming over as something that was left over from the “Cold Like War” sessions. It strikes a fine balance and between them the tracks showcase that the band have what it takes to go on together [8.5/10]