Powerplay (Issue 56: June 2004)
Review by Glenn Butler
Fourway Kill are fast, aggressive and in your face! "24
Hours To Die" is a brutal album in the vein of Skinlab,
with ferocious riffing and music that will severely shred
the listener's ears. Vocals are courseand menacing as Chris
snarls over the wall of sound sound created by Jay on guitars,
Rob on drums and Podge on the bass. A combination of influences
can be heard on this album, yet uniquely all tracks are Fourway
Kill creations. "Removing Face" is a speedy, aggressive
number with wailing guitar work, while "Reclaimation
Rite" starts with a slower, brooding musical vibe building
slowly in intensity and volume. "Dusted" tears it
up from start to finish with breakneck drumming that just
gets your head banging along and would surely be a huge hit
when performed live. The intensity and threatening feel that
the tune produces is testimony to the band's ability to write
catchy yet very metal numbers. "Deadweight" and
"Tappin The Vein" continue in a similar manner and
leave no doubt that as Fourway Kill get more exposure they
will be destined for greater things.
Terrorizer (Issue 120: June 2004)
Review by Ian Glasper
Its a shame that Fourwaykill, a Fine Power/Thrash band from
the west country, chose to open this MCD with the title track.
Its No where near as strong as the following 'Discipline'.
It's here that FWK demonstrate just what they can achieve
when they play to their strengths; a fliud uptempo riff, Almost
hardcore in feel, breaks down neatly into a sledgehammer section
that recalls 'Vulgar ...' era Pantera. Fifteen Years ago Fourwaykill
would have probrably been signed to a major. now seemingly
sentenced to underground obscurity ... but stick to your guns
lads, the times they are a-changing. 7/10
Rockbeast.com (6th
May 2004)
Review by Chris
Thrash metal that needs to be heard at full volume to savour
the flavour. The vocalist sounds similar to Derek Green of Sepultura
roaring through the seven tracks of this mini album “24
Hours To Die”. As with all great thrash metal bands the
drums crush everything in sight and do so on this record. The
pace is intense throughout being punished by the grinding guitars.
This is a band of real potential and can break out to become
one the best and well known metal bands.
Live 4 Metal.com (May 2004)
Review by Stef
Ever wondered what Bruce Dickinson would sound like if he was
in a hardcore band?! Vocalist Chris Neighbour has that typical
hardcore voice but he somehow manages to insert some almost
power metal warbling into most of the choruses, cleverly disguised
under the hardcore roughness, that adds a great edge to their
sound. This sets them apart, and along with the experience they
have which is clearly evident they should be destined to go
a long way. Having played with the likes of Anthrax and touring
with Blaze they have now bagged themselves the headline slot
on the second stage at this years Bloodstock.
The longest release from this band, “24 Hours to Die”
comes in at just under 25 minutes with seven tracks and by the
end you can’t help wishing for more. Consistently strong
throughout, the songs grind through a mix of powerfully grooving
riffs with the occasional melody break and some clever guitar
fills, all of which stay firmly in the hardcore arena without
getting dull. A set of well structured songs perhaps let down
slightly by the production which tends to leave the drums a
bit buried.
The title track, also the first one up, assaults you with a
chunky, rough, seriously down-tuned but surprisingly catchy
riff that blasts through to an – again – surprisingly
melodic & emotional chorus with those rather unique vocals.
Mellowing out for the bridge the song gives you just enough
time to catch your breath before launching back into the first
riff to the end, setting up perfectly for another particularly
catchy track in song 2, ‘Discipline’. The first
3 songs get progressively less melodic with track 3 ‘Removing
Face’ showing they can be angry with the angriest. Here
again it is a pity the bass drum is so hidden because I get
the impression there is much more to Robs Drumming than is clearly
audible.
Track 4 ‘Reclamation Rite’ slows the pace down slightly
with an almost Black Sabbath bass intro and the return of the
melody before pouncing into another heavily catchy riff with
some great vocal rhythms, a slow, melodic bridge & yes,
a guitar solo before blasting through to the full 4 minutes
11 seconds of the longest track on the album. The last 3 tracks,
‘Dusted’, ‘Deadweight’ & ‘Tapping
the Vein’, keep the pace & aggression up without failing
to deliver the melody & catchiness that is expected by this
point. If anything, ‘Dusted’ is probably the heaviest
song on the album, while ‘Deadweight’ has the second
& last guitar solo on the album with a distinctly Black
Sabbath bridge finished off with haunting vocals.
This is definitely going right next to “Scratch the Surface”
in my collection.
BBC.co.uk
Review by Mick Cooper
If you want your music very loud and very fast, then Fourway Kill - on Dan P's Psychophonic label - should be an addition to your collection. What is especially outstanding about Fourway Kill is the voice of Chris Neighbour.
The sneering power of a decent trash metal band is still there, but he occasionally slips into a tuneful 'power warble' which gives them a strong originality.
It also makes the album more accessible to people who may not have gotten into bands such as 'Raging Speedhorn'.
