Shields are one of those bands that seem to have never quite made it out of the “local” scene and not without lack of trying. Initially coming out swinging in the early 2010s with a mix of djent-infused deathcore with a dash of melodic metalcore, their skyward trajectory came to a traumatic halt following the death of their guitarist George Christie in 2018 which caused them to disband shortly after.
Over the years they’ve resurfaced, catching a breath whenever possible but not enough to keep afloat – until now. Shields have returned with their latest album Death & Connection and honestly, it’s a disappointing one.
Coming in blind, I was left on the back foot with the opening track, This is not a Dream, a four-and-a-half minute poetic, spoken-word monologue, an intended outpouring of emotion that frankly felt a little long in the tooth and slightly derivative at times. It’s certainly a unique way to open an album, but one that misses the mark, in my opinion. I can definitely feel that this is intended to be a raw, heart-on-your-sleeve moment, but oof.
Fortunately the following track, Abuser, is an onslaught of heavy deathcore that reminds us exactly what Shields are all about. It’s a short minute-something track allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief that one of my favourite UK metal bands were back on form, at least, that’s what I’d hoped… the next track, Kill, was a gut punch of disappointment. Where I’d come to expect wall vibrating chugs, guttural screams, and massive choruses with catchy cleans, I found electronic alt. metal, The Streets-style spoken word with a heavy British twang, auto tune, and a hefty dose of Octanecore. Oh boy, was I disappointed. During the entirety of the first half of this song my stank face wasn’t because of a disgusting breakdown, but instead a reaction to whatever the fuck I was listening to.
I wish I could say things got better, but the album took many stylistic twists and turns I came away with a case of audible whiplash. It’s almost as if original members – vocalist Joe Edwards and guitarist Samuel Kubrick Finney – had so many ideas during their hiatus that they wanted to include them all. Now, don’t get me wrong, bands experimenting with their sound is a necessary evil to evolve to their next era, but in this case I felt there was just too many ideas being tossed at the wall in the hopes that they’d stick.
The album feels somewhat directionless with ideas coming from all angles. From the aforementioned deathcore in Abuser, to the Enter Shikari and Bring Me The Horizon-style radio-friendly metalcore of Parasites. Funnily enough, this reminds me a lot of how OutKast handled Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as at times, this could be two separate albums. One that’s heavier deathcore/metalcore and another that was a little more in line with Octanecore bands like Bad Omens.
There are a handful of saving graces in Death & Connection, such as Lacerate, which features Graphic Nature‘s Harvey Freeman, Womb, and Wolfskin featuring Left to Suffer‘s Taylor Barber. These tracks are more of what we’d come to expect from Shields. What this album is severely lacking, too, is a crowd-pleasing epic chorus, like I Just Feel Hate and Jordan. There’s nothing that really grabs my attention or makes me want to throw it on and sing along.
I was genuinely excited to hear that there was a new album from this band, but the resulting 39-minute album had around 15 minutes of music I actually enjoyed.
Death & Connection is released on January 30 via Long Branch.
Score: 4/10