Review Summary: I DON'T CARE, IF I EVER BREATHE AGAIN
I cannot stress enough how much I believe Feed Her To The Sharks shot themselves in the foot by naming their band Feed Her To The Sharks. I was under the belief it was in reference to the 2009 movie Shark Night, but in further research, I found Frontman Alex discussing the naming of the band and he said ‘
We felt the name was aggressive and memorable, and it also had a very catchy, very Aussie feel. The rest is history….’ Well Alex, whilst I love your vocal abilities I’m gunna have to disagree there and say you guys choose a terrible name AND why does it feel Aussie???
‘Savage Seas’ is a self-released 9 track album, and the cover artwork really has that self-released essence about it. The cheap photo shopped shark with blood in its mouth and the
badass font for the band name really screams
WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING but want to look badass and likely to be the next rung on the ever-growing ladder of genericore.
My fears and trepidation only grew more intense when I witnessed the title track and its opening with Frontman Alex screaming ‘We Are Feed Her To The Sharks’ with the most generic breakdown chuggs you ever heard. What was bellovddd to do in this situation. I was stumped, I love my generic brand of metalcore more than most, but to scream your band name followed by what fans of Asking Alexandria may call BROOTAL…. Oh my I was prepared for the worst and ready to turn it off and pretend that it never existed and what a bad decision that would have been.
Don’t get me wrong, there is no new ground to be broken here. Innovation is not in the essence of this release, the guitar work throughout is serviceable (more than I could play), leading HEAVILY into the chuggs and lead licks that run up and down the fret board but go nowhere interesting. ‘Shore of Loneliness’ having some of the more memorable guitar work on the release along with ‘Save Yourself’ having some nice guitar back and forth and plenty of chuggs. The Bass you ask, what bass? Like most Metalcore bands of this time the bass is lost in the mix and can only be
felt if you’re looking for it and usually doesn’t leave the rhythm guitars side. Blast beats, half time beats, and everything in between are here courtesy of Drummer ‘Sticks’ (LOL) who is a very solid drummer and adds in enough double bass for me to be convinced his on a slightly higher level than your average Metalcore skin hitter.
Frontman Alex stands out with a huge performance, and I mean HUGE performance both with his cleans and uncleans. His uncleans range from black
metaly shrieks to demonic low growls, generic metalcore screams and all the disgusting goodness in between. All these moments elevate the generic nature of the tracks to a higher level that kept me interested and it wasn’t until I heard the huge clean chorus of ‘Memory of You’ that I knew I was in for a ride. The biggest draw to this album is the choruses. Alex goes for huge pop choruses, and they create some wonderful melodies and sing along moments. ‘Take Me Back,’ ‘Shore Of Loneliness’ and ‘Memory Of You’ all have choruses that will be stuck on repeat in your head and Alex’s cleans come across as some straight up Mayday Parade worship, but it sounds lovely and is right in the wheelhouse of bellovddd, so I ATE THEM UP.
‘Savage Seas’ is the poster child of genericore but done with a vocalist who stands above the crowd with some huge chorus lines and some truly disgusting uncleans. Feed Her To The Sharks faded out in 2016 and have become one of the countless metalcore bands who were almost a thing, but never really got there and whilst it’s not surprising, I do miss hearing Alex’s vocals and melody lines.
