Nights Like These - Sunlight At Secondhand

by Simon T Diplock

Memphis quintet do their damndest to reinvigorate heavy metal

"‘Heart Of The Wound’ is the sort of noise Mastodon would mess with on a really bad day, ‘Veteran Thieves’ is Isis given a sickly shot of speed and ‘Claw Your Way Out’ sounds like Converge, stuck on a horrible, dizzying, slow-motion kind of repeat."

Where the hell have Nights Like These come from? Two years ago the Memphis, Tennessee quintet were playing fairly proficient metalcore, loud and all, but more than average enough to sink without trace. Now though, after cramming what sounds like a decade’s worth of practice and a lifetime’s vat of venom into their sound, this lot have become incredible.

Instead of relying on clichéd riffs and hackneyed lyrics the Nights now come in hard, fast and with deadly intent. Guitarists Matt Qualls and Derren Saucier have switched from using pointless technicality to grinding, grooving heavy-metal sludge riffs, drummer Patrick Leatherwood has picked up the pace and punches through the stormy production here like a falling brick wall and frontman Billy Bottom excels as well, howling through this record like he’s either in the worst mood of his life or a wild cat was let into the vocal booth with him.

‘Heart Of The Wound’ is the sort of noise Mastodon would mess with on a really bad day, ‘Veteran Thieves’ is Isis given a sickly shot of speed and ‘Claw Your Way Out’ sounds like Converge, stuck on a horrible, dizzying, slow-motion kind of repeat, forever. And yet, despite the near-constant noise, there’s no loss of definition or identity here, tracks like ‘Black The Sun’ burning themselves into your brain after just one listen. In short, ‘Sunlight At Secondhand’ is nasty, loud, smart, aggressive, bold and brash and fucking brilliant. If heavy metal is your bag, bow down to Nights Like These.

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