Band : Razorwire
Album title : Razorwire Presents…Lethal Dose
Label : Psychotronic Records
Distributor : PHD
Release date : 19/04/2010
Release : CD

Nah…not the 4th studio album by this very DIY (organize their own tours; release albums through their own label which also releases albums by other artists, the label ran by rhythm guitarist Dan Peach) British Metalcore act (actually, they play an aggressive Metal with both Punk and Hardcore elements, and in the vocal department rapping is frequently used)! This, in fact, is the band’s first live album!

I’ve been personally blessed in that I’ve been enabled to follow the band’s progress since their 1st album, 2003’s League Of The Godless (that review lost in the big pre-2005 computer crash Concrete Web suffered, you’ll still find reviews of sophomore album A Bullet Called Pride can be found posted 18/08/2005, and of 3rd album Wrapped In Lies posted on 16/04/2008). I wasn’t really enthoused with the change in line-up which first saw the old lead guitarist, and then the lead singer leave, but when push came to shove, the last studio album was still a lot of fun!

Plans to make this live album were projected right into the touring for WIL, and announced on the band’s MySpace in early August 2008. A first concert to be recorded was to be the one in the band’s home town Hanley (Stoke-On-Trent) on Saturday 27 September, but other occasions would apparently follow into the next year. The track-list? Well, there’s 2 songs (“Jettison” and “Guttermouth”, the latter closing the live portion of the album) off the debut record, 4 off A Bullet… (namely “D-Fens”, “Lock Down”, “A Bullet Called Pride”, and “Dipole”, in that order on the album, but with other songs in between) and eventually no less than 6 songs (album opener “Damage Limitation”, “Mind Bleach”, “False Pride”, “Fractures”, “Drempels”, and “Swarm”) of the third one! And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of “new” singer Dave Scragg whom, in the “old” songs, prooves that he’s no lesser man than his predecessor! Oh, need to tell you about some (positive) changes which happened in the band’s line-up. In stead of Kieron Berry (whom was on the WIL album and joined the band on their tours following its), lead guitars are now being provided by one Jack Clulow. And in stead of Rich Kelham, one Ed Jervis is now providing the band’s music with the deep end chords while also backing up the lead singer (along with the drummer).

To make things more interesting, the band has added brandnew studio songs “Passing Cycles” (a video for which you should find posted at myspace.com/razorwireband pretty soon) and “Feeling Dead”. Both songs are typically Razorwire (the second with some rapped vocals), and serve well for those among us who are looking out eagerly for the studio recording installment in the band’s discography. Live album, therefore somewhat of a “best of”, so falls under the “no rating” category!

Tony.