Album Review: Feed Her To The Sharks - 'Fortitude'

It's interesting when the once widely used and copied norm of a genre is now the odd one out. See, nowadays it's all about who has the lowest tunings, who has the biggest most obnoxious breakdowns, which vocalist can make the most tortured screams and growls, and who can change time-signatures and tempos the quickest in the most mind-bending of manners. So, if a band comes along with the mindset of 2005/2006 metalcore then all of a sudden they are the odd one out.

Such is the case with Melbourne's Feed Her To The Sharks, who seem to be stuck in 2006. But that's not a bad thing. Their new album, 'Fortitude' is basically the same as their previous outing 'Savage Seas', which, to be fair, was a generic but ultimately very good album. Hence, the natural assumption is that if it's not broken, then you don't have to fix it. Well this isn't broken, this is just really fucking familiar.

Batting first at the plate is the album's opening track, one that's been kicking around for a while now - 'The World Is Yours'. This is a case of the big guns coming out first and then the smaller cannon fodder bringing up the rear as this song is easily the best of the bunch. This song is the sum total of the band's sound - fast tempos, breakdowns, the occasional burst of blast beats, occasional but delectable use of synth that adds more layers, powerful, thunderous drumming from a man who looks like a young Anders Fridén, slick guitar riffs that take influence from some of metal's best bands, as well as giant melodic hooks and even bigger choruses that really hit the mark.

The rest of the album is basically a repetition of this first track. However, the band is already working off a pretty tight template so it's not that the record gets worse, it just doesn't quite develop any further, meaning your first glimpse into the world of this quintet is 'The World Is Yours', and everything else just takes second place.

There are a few slight pit falls however. 'Chasing Glory' feels like a Punk Goes Pop cover due its lyrics, which can best be summed up as one big 'meh'. We all have haters, we all have friends and family, we all want to be somebody, so bands of the world, please sing about something else for god's sake. Seemingly the group does this with 'Terrorist', which, while good musically, is a bit, well, out of place. In light of recent worldly events this could have been written with far more detail and with a bit more tact. Otherwise, it's basically a very A-typical 'Us Vs Them' song. 

Though the album redeems itself at the end with 'Let Go'. It is a solid album closer that has just the right amount of size and power to its choruses and intro to suck you in for one final ride. 

It's time to step out of the progressive, low-tuned metalcore fan-fare of today and step back in time to the mid naughties with Feed Her To The Sharks' latest album, 'Fortitude'. It's not going to shake off the shackles of today's norms but hey, it has its own place in 2015. Oh and the band has stopped saying 'Fuck Melbourne' and 'We are Feed Her To The Sharks', so that's a definite plus.

1. The World Is Yours

2. Chasing Glory

3. Burn The Traitor

4. Shadow Of Myself

5. Terrorist

6. Heart Of Stone

7. Walking On Glass

8. Fear Of Failure

9. Faithless

10. Badass

11. Let Go