Widowmaker - Widowmaker album review

Technical deathcore still trying to prise itself from the template

Cover art for Widowmaker - Widowmaker album

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With Heart Of A Coward’s future in doubt, Widowmaker’s combo of techy nous and burly groove could see them step into the breach. As with their moniker, which has been used by others over the last few decades of rock history, their style is nothing that hasn’t been heard before. However, there are subtle hints peppered across the Alabama quintet’s debut EP that suggest they could be onto something quite special. Vocalist Matt Childers displays a diverse range at times but mostly settles into the familiar scream/growl pattern, while the murky Dissonance trades in both eerie textures and weighty breaks but just outstays its welcome. But with Quarantine’s seismic drops that are as heavy as anything else in modern deathcore, and The Illusionist’s killer harmonies and leads that develop underneath its chaotic bluster, Widowmaker’s precision strike displays some subtlety.

Adam Brennan

Rugby, Sean Bean and power ballad superfan Adam has been writing for Hammer since 2007, and has a bad habit of constructing sentences longer than most Dream Theater songs. Can usually be found cowering at the back of gigs in Bristol and Cardiff. Bruce Dickinson once called him a 'sad bastard'.