I just saw a few days back “Through the Never” and listening the opening track of the third full-length studio abum by Of Mice & Men I realized that not one of these metal bands would sound the same if the Danish-born drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist James Hetfield wouldn’t met in late 1981 after Ulrich placed an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper called The Recycler. Well, the second name which came in my mind was obviously Pantera. Without the contorted and twisted off riffs of Dimebag Darrell most of these new metal(core) bands would still riffing like Tony Iommi or like Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. And there’s nothing wrong riffing like that actually. 🙂
Although I’m not particularly excited about this new wave of so-called metalcore bands, Of Mice & Men is definitively one of the leading bands of the new generation and I liked their sound and style right from the beginning. With – or maybe because – of this Metallica/Pantera parallels, but also because they managed to re-assemble this classic influences into a new type of sound and approach. And “Restoring Force” it’s a banging throughout album filled up with fabulous riffs and grinding to the ground songs. Read more Of Mice & Men – Restoring Force (2014) ›