YEAH, BUT LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO MY CAT!

Reader Mat Cross sent us a link to Vancouver’s Unleash the Archers with a message insisting that “YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT THIS BAND THEY RULE SO HARD!!” Well, I appreciate Mat’s enthusiasm, and I’m all for bands that rule so hard, so I decided to check the band out ASAP.

And, uh, I honestly am not quite sure what I think.

A lot of these riffs are really solid. The band clearly knows how to write a song, which is more than I can say for most of the crap people send us. A lot of this shit is really catchy, and in case you haven’t noticed, I appreciate catchy. And there’s some good shredding, too.

I am not a fan of the clean vocals, though. I know, I know: “Axl, you’re a Grumpy Gus. You just want everyone to scream all the time.” I mean, look, I definitely do prefer screaming in metal, but there are plenty of bands with clean vocals that I love, so whatever. These particular clean vocals are just a little too much on the side of power metal for me; I kept wishing they were a little more Halford-y and a little less whatever European band apparently everyone but me likes-y.

But the band is called “Unleash the Archers,” so I guess I should be grateful it’s not ALL power metal.

In any case, check out the group here and let me know what you think in the comments section. I’m open to having my mind changed on this one.

-AR