As much as I like metalcore, even the commercialized watered down stuff, the fact remains that the UK’s Bury Tomorrow are so predictable, cookie cutter and utterly devoid of individuality, that I cant think of anything to awfully good to say about their debut album. But also, as a metalcore fan I cant really find anything to really hate about them either.

Culled heavily from the likes of Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Destroy the Runner and such, Portraits is as formulaic as metalcore gets: pummeling but melodic metal, some galloping dual melodies, gruff growls and tons of soaring clean choruses, all ready for teenage consumption. It’s well (if slightly over done) produced at Wellerhill Productions (Sikth, Gallows, Taking Back Sunday) and touches all of metalcore’s tenets from the sugary ballads (“Repair the Lining”), to (plenty of) radio ready singles (“Casting Shapes”, “Portraits”, ”Waxed Things”, “The Western Front”), introspective interludes “(“Relief”) and the obligatory slightly more intense tracks (“Confessions”, “Her Bones in the Sand”, ‘Factory of Embers”, “Anything With Teeth”) to try and gain metal credibility.

To the bands credit, they possess a couple of decent vocalists in growler Dani Winter-Bates and clean crooner Jason Cameron who trade off each other decently and without overdoing either delivery. And truth be told, the band knows the style they want to play and do it without forcing any extraneous stuff in to complicate things.

That all being said, Bury Tomorrow certainly match their US peers as far as this style is concerned and there certainly is a market for this stuff, especially for fans of Victory Records and here in America, so there is a chance the band will catch on, despite being completely unoriginal.

[Visit the band's website]

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