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Cry Excess

Ambition Is The Shit

Written by: PP on 15/01/2015 22:42:01

The metalcore year 2015 starts early with a brutally aggressive release by Turin, Italy's Cry Excess. Their debut album "Ambition Is The Shit" is a bit of a love/hate situation because on one hand it provides some of the heaviest metalcore you'll have heard in recent memory, with absolutely scathing vocals juxtaposed against down-tuned guitars and plenty of breakdowns setting the scene. But on the flip side, it belongs very distinctly into the world of electronically infused metalcore, bringing along all the worst feats that term usually carries with it.

The opening track "Ripshit (Hands Up For The Italian)" says basically everything you need to know about this band. Hip hop style sampled electronics, semi-rapped vocals, screams, breakdowns and a drum rolls that sound like they're programmed rather than played by a human being. The samples are the most annoying kind you typically hear in the most commercial mainstream hip hop stuff with half-naked girls shaking their booties - I cringe every time I hear the keyboards enter this zone on record. The title track at least contains a fairly catchy melodic chorus, but it also demonstrates incredibly pompous and pretentious singing in the process that's very difficult to like unless you happen to be a Falling In Reverse fan. "Hustler" features a sample from a classic Breaking Bad moment where Walter explains to Skyler that he is the danger - just to top off the clichés the band are already incorporating everywhere in their sound.

Still, when the band steer clear of the tacky electronics, they sometimes deliver a surprisingly good mix of brutal and in-your-face hardcore and standard metalcore. "What Keeps Us Alive" is a good example with semi-clean vocals contrasting the monstrous growling and screaming during its chorus melody. Older Architects fans should be pleased right here. But there aren't enough memorable moments like these on the album. The result is a messy, cut-and-paste type of a feel where the electronics don't add anything to their soundscape other than make it sound trendy in a forced manner. There are better bands in this genre than Cry Excess, stick to them.

Download: What Keeps Us Alive, Ambition Is The Shit
For the fans of: Famous Last Words, Asking Alexandria, Architects, Attack Attack!
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Release date 06.01.2014
Luxor Records