Album Review: Take Us To Vegas - 'Bloodwolves'

Take Us To Vegas are self-indulgent, gimmicky post hardcore of the very worst kind. With influences like Pierce The Veil, A Day To Remember and The Amity Affliction, TUTV’s newest release, Bloodwolves, sounds too much like an amalgamation of these bands, projected onto a palate of cheap stadium rock tunes. Bloodwolves is all about making dramatic but empty statements and rocking the hell out of pretty much everything, and while the record does everything from the chugging guitars to the soaring choruses just right, you can't help be aware of the lack of sincerity throughout.

After a brief and forgettable instrumental, Take Us To Vegas jump right in with ‘Dear Hodgetwins,’ an unnecessarily heavy and overly-theatrical rock anthem that is carried by the sparkly clean vocals and reverberating, pop metal guitar, suggestive of Escape the Fate. On the surface, it’s catchy as all hell and mildly addictive, just like most of the album, but this isn’t enough to mask the lack of sincerity and earnest in the song writing.

With 'Vital Signs’ and ‘Hades’, Take Us To Vegas dabble in the heavy/clean post hardcore trends already made familiar by bands like The Amity Affliction and A Day To Remember, and as a result end up sounding unoriginal, uninspired and bland. While the grumbling, heavy vocals are credible and the squeaky clean ones are far from inaccessible, it’s the lyrical penmanship, which is unconvincing and clichéd that lets these tracks down.

It’s a mystery as to why the band chose ‘For The Love of The Game’ as the single for the record, as it’s one of the weakest tracks on there, lacking any kind of heaviness, emotional vigour or a genuine spirit. With lyrics like ‘As I look back on this life I’ve lived; I’ve just been a sheep dressed in wolves clothing’ there’s nothing much to keep this record from going under.

Take Us To Vegas finish the album on a somewhat positive note however, with 'Burning At Both Ends' digging up some interesting instrumental flavours and demonstrating that the range of the band goes further than can be heard on Bloodwolves. The parts are all there, so here’s hoping they’ll dig deeper for something a lot more sincere and inspired next time around.

1. The Grey (Instrumental) 
2. Dear Hodgetwins
3. Vital Signs 
4. For The Love of The Game (single)
5. Hades 
6. Bloodwolves
7. Burning At Both Ends