Busting big style out of Dayton in the American State of Ohio, this melodic hardcore metal band releases its first album on Roadrunner in style.

Since their debut LP release in 1999, these five guys have come a long way, here presenting ten tracks that are spread over 45 minutes worth of pant-soiling playing time.

Led from the front by vocalist Adam Jackson, their music is purposefully complex and they invest extra special effort into going to the greatest of lengths to sound as unique a band as possible, mashing together the heaviness of Metallica, the cool swagger of Faith No More and the captivating hip-hop aspect of Rage Against The Machine's music. The net result is that this album is relentlessly heavy in its entirety, from 'Post Replica' through 'Baboon Music' (in which Adam wails “Dead noise has been broadcast in our heads for too long”).

As a band they have toured the US extensively over the past five years, and they admit that they mean “to expand the limitations and expectations'”that the music industry often sets down. Thankfully, and by little coincidence, the music of Twelve Tribes is music for action, as their nut-crunching anthem 'Backburner' boasts the lyric “Reinvent the individualist 'cause we are the living dead”, before the insanely energetic 'Chroma' kicks in, and the rebirth of tragedy is more than complete.

A truly inspirational work of raging heart and soul, this is the type of intelligent and motivational metal-based music that has the power to change lives for the better.    
(4/5)

Release Date: 14 June 2004