{"id":73066,"date":"2018-06-06T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T00:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=73066"},"modified":"2018-09-30T18:06:36","modified_gmt":"2018-09-30T18:06:36","slug":"ep-review-lovebites-battle-against-damnation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-lovebites-battle-against-damnation\/","title":{"rendered":"LOVEBITES – Battle Against Damnation EP (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOVEBITES
Battle Against Damnation EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nJPU \/ Victor Entertainment (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Japan most certainly has a burgeoning scene when it comes to metal, particularly with female-fronted groups coming to the fore.<\/p>\n

With Lovebites, out of Tokyo, we get five femme fatales of ferocity who first caught my eye in 2017 with their debut album Awakening From Abyss<\/em>. I was rather surprised that a new EP was to emerge so soon, but also, naturally rather grateful. Battle Against Damnation<\/em> \u2013 just like the previous release \u2013 is one hell of a record featuring enough gallops, solos and power to keep you happy until bed time.<\/p>\n

The quality on show comes courtesy of Asami (vocals), Midori (guitar), Miho (bass), Haruna (drums), and newest member Miyako (guitar \/ keyboards), the end result being four hammering power metal tracks that drive hard and fast. There\u2019s firstly the blitzing thrash attack of \u2018The Crusade\u2019 with its incredible synth injections, and the pounding \u2018Break The Wall\u2019 with its pulverising percussion and vocal variations and darker rhythmic tones. Secondly, there\u2019s the neo-Gothic sheen of \u2018Above The Black Sea\u2019 with its strong European flourishes and dramatic, lush keyboard effects and \u2018Under The Red Sky\u2019, which blends traditional metal aesthetics with very contemporary styles encompassing some killer shred work and a fine, ascending melody and vocal choir.<\/p>\n

Lovebites bring so much to the table for you to gawp at. The vocals drift effortlessly from full-on soaring power metal volcanic eruptions to an almost clean-cut and poppy design as experienced on the closing track, which at times alienates me with its catchiness until suddenly a juddering riff comes in.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the beauty of this party; Lovebites can provide seemingly innocent structures to draw you in, but once inside, you\u2019re blasted with a sonic panorama of fully cranked New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-styled velocity, such as with the opening tune which rambles so heavy. Even with those synths, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking you were dealing with a group of veterans within the genre such is the song craft and attitude, and that\u2019s without becoming hypnotised by the soaring vocals and chorus hooks. \u2018Break The Wall\u2019 just stands out as a lump of charging thrash metal menace, however, and then that orchestral chorus flow where the keys rise up with Asami\u2019s warbles to a wail of insane leads.<\/p>\n

Whether dabbling in harmonious patterns or heavyweight drifts, Lovebites remain a belligerent act that will no doubt appeal right across the board and there\u2019s nary a novelty in sight. The quintet strike as a deadly melodic metal battalion stylistically crafted and full of unexpected twists.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOVEBITESBattle Against Damnation EP JPU \/ Victor Entertainment (2018)Rating: 8\/10 Japan most certainly has a burgeoning scene when it comes to metal, particularly with female-fronted groups coming to the fore. With Lovebites, out of Tokyo, we get five femme fatales of ferocity who first caught my eye in 2017 with their debut album Awakening From […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-lovebites"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73069,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73066\/revisions\/73069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}