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THEM
Fear City

Steamhammer (2022)
Rating: 6/10

Returning from the vault with their fourth full-length studio album is the theatrical Them, an international band fronted by Coldsteel’s Troy Norr (aka KK Fossor). Tapping into the synth-obsessed youth of today, Them cause bats to flutter from the alcoves and owls to hoot in derision as they embark on an atmospheric if somewhat tepid Euro-metal romp that veers into a brew of Blind Guardian and a less threatening King Diamond via Grave Digger.

I do have issues with this neo-Gothic Euro metal, more so when it’s so darn clinical and glossy. And as for the narrated passages, don’t get me started on such cheese. However, if you like contemporary metal with overly theatrical vocals and anthemic segments then you’ll probably like drinking at ye olde inn of Them.

At their most aggressive the band can dish out some lethal doses such as on the opening torrent of ‘Welcome To Fear City’ which has a strong thrashy nuance, but so many tracks succumb to those daft vocals which tend to drag the sound into something more akin to a stage production rather than the molten metal extravaganza I was expecting.

‘191st Street’ also has a musical vitality but again the vocals let it down, and as the band attempt some sort of creepiness throughout it’s just all so littered with too many cheesy moments. Meanwhile, ‘Death On The Downtown Metro’ begins in promising fashion where again there’s that thrashy barrage and even the vocals opt for a feistier snap, so it’s a shame they can’t stick to such a strategy.

The end result here is a ghost train that slipped off the rails a while ago. I appreciate Them at times but there’s just too much silly hocus pocus going on and I just can’t suppress the laughter… decent axe work though.

Neil Arnold

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