You can trust Louder
With two EPs under their belt the new mini-album from this Oxfordshire quintet showcases a band with a maturity that belies their years. This is punishing, stinging death metal that swings like The Black Dahlia Murder and has a low end that Thy Art Is Murder would be chuffed with. That’s impressive enough for your first go, but where A Trust Unclean really excel is when they add in the weird jingling synths that make a song like Aeon such a disorientating aural headfuck. There’s enough craft in amongst the punishment to make you think that they could make a decent fist at outliving a genre that is rapidly stagnating. To Encompass And Eclipse could be accused of leaning solely on beatdown tropes if it weren’t for the wild Strapping Young Ladstyle guitar histrionics to keep it interesting. ATUare by no means perfect, with a bit more experimentation with pacing needed if they truly want to stand out, but it’s another name to add to the ever growing list of bands leading British metal’s ongoing renaissance.
Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!

Stephen joined the Louder team as a co-host of the Metal Hammer Podcast in late 2021, eventually becoming a regular contributor to the magazine. He has since written hundreds of articles for Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Louder, specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal. He also presents the Trve. Cvlt. Pop! podcast with Gaz Jones and makes regular appearances on the Bangers And Most podcast.