Haema – Insurrection – EP Review

It’s funny how quickly fads come and go in the world of heavy music. As you will no doubt recall, for the first few years of this century, nu metal was the ‘big’ thing. Even well established acts such as Machine Head and Fear Factory had a go at it….and with little success we might add! So, when nu metal promptly died after a few years there weren’t many people mourning its demise (except for me! – Ed). However, over the last few years this most maligned of sub-genres has been making a bit of a comeback and this is where relative newcomers, Northamptonshire’s Haema come in.

Due for release at the end of October, Insurrection is the debut release from these self styled industrial-influenced experimental groove metallers and, unfortunately, they are so much in thrall to the sounds of the early 21st Century that Insurrection sounds dated….and not in a nostalgic way. While not in debt to any one band in particular, the five tracks that make up this EP are seemingly bereft of originality entirely. From the downtuned riffing to the whiney spoken word vocals of Jordan Calderwood – which finds him coming across like Zach De La Rocha minus the bite – there’s sadly nothing of note to cling on to.

It’s hard to see where Haema go from this release. The lads are clearly decent musicians, they just need to try and find their own identity. Fans of angsty nu metal will probably lap this up, everyone else would do well to avoid. 4/10