Continuing with today’s unintended Metal theme, meet Fatality. A quartet from Chelmsford in the UK, the band comprises Josh Abbott (vocals), Matt Shynn (bass), Gareth Brimley (guitars), and Jordan Maze (percussion). The band has gone through a few iterations since their foundation in the mid-2010s, but settled on the current line-up since the recording of their fourth single in July last year.
NuMetal is what they call their music, and in the US NuMetal comes in the form of Lamb of God, so they’re in great company. My introduction to Fatality came from their single “Saviour” which slammed into my face similarly to Faith No More-meets-Forest Hills-meets-LOG-meets-Linkin Park. “The Lesson” and “Juggernaut” followed, which were as brutal, or even more so on the latter as the title might have suggested, including those death-growls for which this genre is famous.
I had experience with this style of music with Shotgun in the mid-1990s but these guys pale those into the insignificance into which they have disappeared! There’s a whole lot more to Fatality than those guys ever had, least of which is the label NuMetal!
The Fatality output to date comprises eight releases, including three iterations of “Put ‘em Up” which featured on their self-titled debut in October 2016, was released as a live single in June 2020, and is having new post-COVID life breathed into it. This suggests that the song has become a crowd (and band?) favourite and as such is deserving of some new time and energy for this now-stable line-up. The hook is memorable and, from the first hearing from their debut, I can see why it has grown to become the favourite. The single release in June is very raw, but the live energy is bleeding obvious with Josh’s “Woo!” under the intro. The new version, which includes the “Woo!”, is cleaner for the new producers’ input into the vocal tracking, as well as other improvements.
For mine, this is a new genre coming out of the UK, and something to keep a very close eye on. Hopefully the guys will be able to put a full record out in the coming months, including some reworking of some of the older tracks as well as some new material. Fatality is a name to watch for.
Fatality discography and line-ups 13 October 2016 to 6 January 2021
- Fatality EP released 13 October 2016; incl Destiny, title, and Put ‘em Up (Josh Abbott, Gareth Brimley, Chris Batson)
- Burning Leaves single released 15 January 2019 (Josh, Gareth, Chris, Matt Shynn, Luke Bredin)
- Prey EP released 24 August 2020: incl title, Archangel Delight, Burn, Drown, Black Rain, Burning Leaves, and Look In My Eyes (Josh, Gareth, Matt, Chris)
- Put ‘em Up: (Live at Card Trick Music) released 9 June 2020 (Josh, Matt, Gareth, Jordan Maze)
- Juggernaut released 2 July 2020 (Josh, Matt, Gareth, Jordan)
- The Lesson released 5 October 2020 (Josh, Matt, Gareth, Jordan)
- Saviour released 13 November 2020 (Josh, Matt, Gareth, Jordan)
- Put ‘em Up released 6 January 2021 (Josh, Matt, Gareth, Jordan)