Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

French Metal is being cunning. No matter which part of the various guises the genre sits, the music it is offering to the spectrum, the diverse range in which the sounds plays in, it is slowly and surely eroding, eating away at the idea that only the U.K., North America and North Europe is truly capable of offering music to the masses. On the back of Eyrn Non Dae’s fantastic album Meliora, the stage is set for French Metal to rival that of the other bourgeoning scene that is coming out of Norway and Sweden and who better than In The Guise Of Men and their E.P. Ink which was released in April.

This generous outpouring of musical muscle from the heartland of France is one of the reasons that the U.K. bands that have come along in the last couple of years have had to raise their game once more just to be able to keep up with what is coming from across the channel. The eclectic and beautiful grinding clamour that is woven throughout the E.P. is not just good, it puts to bed the old tired and cliché ridden theory that music in France depends on one style and that to some British ears is not worthy of being put into the same vein as our own. In The Guise Of Men blow that completely out the water but with a twinkle in their eye and a forgiving nature to those that mock French Metal.

What cannot be in doubt is the sincere attitude in which the tracks are played, driven in the pursuit of something more than just excellence, songs such as Violent Overthrow, Sale Paradise and the singe Dog To Man Transposition shake their fists in anger and dedication that makes them and Eyrn Non Dae, as near to natural successors of some of the greats of the British Metal scene but with more charm at their disposal.

Ink is a rampaging beast of an E.P., full of colour, imagination and guttural displays of music that make the listener sit up and beg for more.