Its an interesting technique that Facedown have been employing, that being nurturing a band on their subsidiary Strike First and then ushering them forward into the big league if you will. Call to Preserve were a band I passed up on when Unsinkable, surfaced, can’t recall why, put something just didn’t pull me in. So going into this one, taking into the account the band origin (Florida), the artwork (tough ass Samurai shit by Sir Quiggle), the tougher the tough font and of course the suggestively tough and core name, that this was going to be straight up, no frills and of course, thugged out.

How, wrong, wrong, wrong I was…well, maybe not entirely.

What is found on From Isolation, is a gruff collection of gritty, pounding and surging yet also strangely melodic pieces, the fonts that these are culled more widespread than the casual ear would identify. For one, each song is not hinged on massive breakdowns (and thus, bloodshed), but given Jim Siegel’s quality production and the sharp and authoritative guitar tone, that would be an expectation of the listener and perhaps even a temptation to the band. In fact, when they lock into a gargantuan groove that is mosh worthy, its when they hit hardest, such as on ‘Shameless,’ but then they follow it up with ‘Lincoln Street,’ which is more in line with the likes of Verse, Have Heart, even (ever, ever so slightly) Bane.

It’s this unpredictability that gives the record longevity but also makes it hugely frustrating as there seems to be a lurking undercurrent of restraint that the band just want to unleash complete Armageddon (which is so tantalisingly demonstrated on ‘Waiting for Dawn.’) Of course, its often a recurring criticism that hardcore bands don’t inject enough variation in their song writing and whilst Call to Preserve have the skills to push their palette into multiple areas, I personally feel that were they to lock down and focus intently on one of their primary influences and add some minimal trimmings here and there, they would do serious, serious damage.

[Visit the band's website]

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