ALBUM REVIEW: In The Name Of Nothing – Centrilia

Scotland’s CENTRILIA are the musical wet dream for fans of early 90’s groove metal, and mid 2000’s metalcore. Sitting somewhere in between PANTERA and TRIVIUM – the Glaswegians boast a punishing musical formula which hits hard from every end of the spectrum. Debut record In The Name Of Nothing finds the band looking to cut their teeth where it really matters – and the quartet rarely disappoint on this 8 track fever pitch onslaught.

Enlisting the legendary Terry Date (SLAYER, PANTERA, SOUNDGARDEN) as producer on your first full length record is a statement in itself. CENTRILIA aren’t looking to jump over any corners here, and it shows. Date‘s knack for being able to drench every ounce of intensity out of the bands he works with shines through yet again on In The Name Of Nothing. Opening track Symptoms Of Betrayal wastes little time before bursting out of the gates with a heaving beast of a rhythmic force field.

It’s on the title track and Tamam Shud where the Scots really gleam though. Despite having a combined length of nigh-on 14 minutes, CENTRILIA sound at home here, with enough room to flex their creative muscles. The band flirt with more progressive openings but eventually hit full throttle with skin ravaging breakdowns, blood twisting solos, and side splitting drum fills from Andy Brown which snap through proceedings here with vigour.

Much like with PANTERA, you find it hard to believe that CENTRILIA are a quartet at times, and that’s down to the potency of guitarist David Sandford and bassist Gareth Ellis. The sheer ferocity of The Fool On The Hill is made all the more satisfying by the knowledge there’s no rhythm guitar present to help prop Sandford and Ellis up. Even when you don’t look into the specifics though, this is a raging track of metal aggression that is set to sound like an up close slaughterhouse live. There’s just enough differentiation to get you by on In The Name Of Nothing too. Splitting Hairs Splitting Teeth has a more thrashing/nu metal edge that makes it the ideal juxtaposition for Let The Fire Burn – which takes its political intent and surrounds it with a more stomp, sludge led, outright metal approach.

In The Name Of Nothing is where all the stars seemed to have aligned for CENTRILIA. In Terry Date they couldn’t have hoped to stumble across a better producer for the job, but more than that: the band have crafted an album here that accentuates all their positives with a fine liner. This is a swaggering metal beast of riff explosions and rhythmic power that seems fine tuned enough to get heads banging on metal stages up and down the country. CENTRILIA have without doubt found the pad that their career can leap from.

Rating: 8/10

In The Name Of Nothing is set for release June 28th via 233 Records.

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