Twelve Tribes

Twelve Tribes shows nothing but promise and potential on this five-song EP, a follow-up to their As Feathers To Flowers and Petals To Wings release. Utilising the increasingly popular metal/hardcore/thrash sound, which is then combined with some emotional riffing and technically inflected playing to add variety and increase the dynamic, Twelve Tribes may not be at the level of the originators of this style, nor do they have anything to stake their own identity on, but the potential is evident. The playing is tight, the execution is sound and Twelve Tribes have learned their metallic lessons well. Unorthodox freak-out parts are straddled by slower dirges and a non-stop switching of tempos, metallic influences and rhythms that serve to engage the attention deficient, best exemplified by tracks like "Dragonflies" and "Milk and Mice Pocketknife"; their cover of Faith No More's "Surprise Your Dead" is also a winner. While [Instruments] is an excellent sampling of Twelve Tribe's ability, the next album will determine whether they can rise to the level of innovator.