5Rand – Sacred / Scared – Album Review

Source // 5Rand

Well, this took us by fucking surprise! 5Rand, a female-fronted extreme metal band from Italy, are clearly a band capable of providing endless moments of head-banging glory and riff-filled revelry and Sacred/Scared – due for release on 24th February – is a monster debut that will whip-crack necks and sever spines!

There’s something equally alluring about Julia’s (surname unknown) heavily accented clean singing as there is frightening about her ferocious screams, shouts and growls. A talented voice that proves Arch Enemy aren’t the only ones capable of producing top quality female-fronted extreme metal, 5Rand have proven that with Sacred/Scared they have the talent, the riffs and the necessary X-Factor (hate that term but it fits) to propel them up metal’s ranks.

A melodic death metal meets thrash metal power-house of unrelenting brutality and fiendish melody, these Italian marksman (and woman) are armed to the teeth with quality tunes, unbridled energy and a frontwoman whose multi-faceted skills define them as serious contenders. Whether it’s the tech-fest meets classic metal of “Cordyceps” or the nu-metal mannerisms found on the verses of the decidedly pissed-off “Preacher Of Lies” (think Sevendust meets Slipknot) that rings your bell, 5Rand are equipped with an entire album of monstrous tunage.

We’re Worship Metal so we obviously prefer the screams to the clean singing but there’s no denying that with Sacred/Scared, 5Rand have delivered a seriously accomplished debut album. 8/10