Carl Raschke, Contributor
We Came As Romans is now on top of their game after the release of their previous self-titled album. It received mixed reviews due to the fact that they mostly strayed away from their heavy sound and went for a more alt-rock approach, but I think they pulled it off. Fans thought it was the end of the heavy WCAR as they knew them and separated new from old. This is where Crucible comes into play.
Crucible features three of six members from We Came As Romans, Dave Stephens, Andy Glass and Lou Cotton, along with help from Todd Jansen and Nick Fredell. They came out of nowhere and surprised many with a 15-second snippet of the new song, “Death Rate” on their Instagram account. The stipulation was if they got more and more followers eventually, they would officially release this song.
Inevitably, people wanted badly to hear this and started following the account like wildfire. Why the big fuss about this side project from a successful band? One simple thing: it was heavy. It was heavy and the fans loved it.
They loved it so much because it showed that members from WCAR still wanted to make heavy music. It gave them a sense of hope. Crucible released the song once they reached their follower quota and had nothing but positive feedback.
But it had everyone asking, is this just a one-off thing? Will they release another song? Will they actually release an album or EP and tour it? No one knew. The series of events became a domino effect. Soon after the song release, they announced their first ever show and released “Bastard,” which featured another member from WCAR, and finally, officially indicated their new EP, “The Trials.”
“The Trials” starts off with a self-titled track. A typical intro leads into a powerful musical and lyrical statement, “Change will come from the trials from our crucible”. It sets a tone for what to expect from the rest of the EP: hardcore vibes that pack a punch and headbang worthy tracks. “The Trials” leads right into “Fear Mongers,” which makes it basically one song all together and it flows perfectly. This track provides the ferocious guitar, hardcore riffage and tempo changes that work very well with what Crucible is trying to portray.
Next up is the first song they released, “Death Rate,” which features Brandon Schieppati from Bleeding Through. It also starts a trend for the rest of the EP, guest vocalists. This track is my personal favorite from the EP and one of the stronger tracks. What stands out the most is the socially aware lyrics from Dave Stephens. Lyrics such as, “No race is superior. No faith is inferior. We all bleed red,” and, “All we do is hate. We raise the death rate,” are a narrative of how all our society does now is hate. It makes you question what we can do as a whole or individually to change this cycle of hate. Not only does this song hits hard lyrically, but it hits even harder musically to accompany the lyrical content led by the punchy bass lines of Andy Glass. An aspect worth mention that makes this EP is the bass-heavy work. Glass does a tremendous job giving the bass the life of the release and making it the center point.
We see a slight change in style with “The Misconceived.” It’s more upbeat tempo-wise, with double time drums, but stays true to the heaviness of the EP. It also provides the best breakdown they have to offer musically, incorporating the guitars the way they’re meant to be used. What really gives life to this track and is the guest vocal spot by Davey Music by Vanna. He gives Crucible the Vanna vibe with his feature and adds to the uniqueness of this song.
“Bastard” was the other song they put out before the EP. This song stays in correlation to the rest of the songs up to this point. What sticks out on this track is the guest spot from clean vocalist of WCAR, Kyle Pavone. As a plot twist, Pavnoe provides yelling and screamed vocals here instead, and he knocks it out of the park. It also has something a fan of this music likes: an odd timed breakdown that makes you question where in the world that downbeat is. #musicianproblems
“Slave to the Dime” is phenomenal and is another one of the strongest tracks of the EP. The guitar work is the string bending riffage that has been present the entire time but is also complemented by the sweet spot of the lead guitar. It gives a more fully dynamic atmosphere we’ve heard yet. The guest spot on for this song is from the vocalist of The Plot in You, Landon Tewers. He gives an outstanding performance as he basically steals the spotlight the last half of the song with his incredible dual-purpose vocals. “Slave to the Dime” is a complete banger of a track with a perfect ending.
Fans and I are happy to see traits of heaviness still present in Stephens, Cotton and Glass. It’s a sigh of relief to hear this. It’s something not spectacular but it is an EP you can find yourself head banging to here and there. We all need that from time to time. “The Trials” EP is a powerful statement by members of We Came As Romans to show that they haven’t lost their roots, proven through these six songs.