Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Dry Lung Rhetoric and Schemata Theory, a marriage of names that combined could make the listener of the great days of British Metal and the world of thrash just that little bit more excited for the future of the genre and not look with envious eyes abroad to the Nordic lands and to France where the scene is burgeoning and being treated with the respect it deserves.

There are a few bands making the Damascus like return but not enough to stand along inside the pantheon just yet but the debut album, Dry Lung Rhetoric by Reading based Schemata Theory is one to savour and play around with and ultimately enjoy. The music crashes around like a tidal wave but with a slight edge in its gentle fury that makes the music more appealing and in a framework that blends its way away from the traditional metal sound, not many groups incorporate the sound of piano into their overall structure, and yet it works well. The less brutal, more intelligent sound you would expect from the likes of bands making their way across the water that divides the U.K. from the continent is being breached inch by inch by this new great sound.

The 11 tracks on the album race along like the Grand National at its height, full of sweat, power, exhilaration but also with the deftness of a thoroughbred out for a stroll, an early morning treat before the big race. Tracks such as Drones, A Complex State, Crisis Unveiled and A Brighter Future all make the overall feel of the album an enjoyable romp, a piece of recording history that doesn’t allow for false starts and is in certainly no danger of being pulled up at the first fence. Whilst it doesn’t quite rival the music that the continent is throwing out with near apparent ease, Schemata Theory and Dry Lung Rhetoric will be looked upon as a great chapter in the new phase of British Metal.

Ian D. Hall