Supergroup World Gone Cold featuring members of POD, Demon Hunter, Disciple, Attack,Attack! and the Letter Black debut an ep filled with hard rock verging on mid-2000s era metalcore.
Supergroups tend to vary on level of success, either being phenomenal or coming across as sounding like everyone was just going through the motions and usually the members are all from bands fairly similar in sound. World Gone Cold does not quite fit that mold with members coming from various backgrounds ranging from the hard rock of POD (Traa Daniels), The Letter Black (Mark Anthony), and Disciple (Andrew Stanton) to the metalcore of Demon Hunter (Tim “Yogi” Watts) and Inhale/Exhale and Attack Attack! (Ryland Raus). Given the collection of musicians, I was wondering how this was going to turn out and there is a surprising blend of all the influences here.
“Left to Save” opens up the ep with some electronic elements and drums that build into a pounding riff and some strained, clean vocals that have some metalcore screaming counterpoint. Add in the metalcore-like clean chorus and ultra-clean production, guitars somewhat muddled in the mix, and one can’t help but be transported back to the metalcore of the mid-2000s. “Opposites Attract” continues the theme of starting out with the electronic elements in the intro, but then stays more firmly in the hard rock territory than the metalcore in the first track. Vocals are strong and the arrangement with the keyboard/electronic elements taking over from time to time does make for a somewhat catchy song.
“Burn” increases the intensity a bit as the clean vocals quickly give way to more intense shouted screamed ones layered among the clean ones. Meanwhile the electronic elements play a more dominant role here even with the pounding, driving riff. Yogi Watt’s drums and Traa Daniel’s bass make for a formidable rhythm section and throughout the album the keep the songs moving.
There is a familiarity in the ep in that it seems like I’ve heard this before, and the songs do seem a bit formulaic for my tastes. The tracks “Again”, “Apology”, and “Reality” rely a bit too much on the electronic elements and come across as an attempt to be a bit more poppy, which has them a bit out of place compared to the previous, heavier tracks on the album.
World Gone Cold have put together an ep that will undoubtedly be well-received by those who are fans of the bands where the members came from. There are some catchy hooks, solid performances, and a good bit of musical variety between the first and second half of the ep, but I am left with the feeling that I’ve heard this all before.
Written by John Jackson
Rating: 6/10
Tracklist
- Left To Save
- Opposites Attract
- Burn
- Attention
- Again
- Apology
- Reality
Band Members
Traa Daniels – bass
Tim Watts – drums
Andrew Stanton – guitars
Mark Anthony – guitars
Ryland Raus – vocals
Release Date: March 17th. 2023
Record Label: Rockfest Records
Socials: website / facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Video for ‘Opposites Attract’
Lyric video for ‘Apology’
Lyric video for ‘Burn’