HELPLESS
Caged In Gold
CHURCH ROAD All-encompassing nihilism from the south-west UK wastelands
Helpless’s vicious blend of grind, metal and powerviolence has been burning a hole in the UK underground for almost five years now, and this second slab of aural abuse could be what tips them towards huge things. True to form, Caged In Gold is a truly visceral experience –a seething mess of bloodthirsty riffs, discordant noise and Dan Couch’s primal screams. Wasting zero time, the trio lay down a gauntlet of blackened riffs and cacophonous rhythms via the nihilistic one-two punch of Wraiths Of Memory and The Empty Gesture – the latter plunging its listener into a deeper pit of fury by its conclusion. Elsewhere, a couple of songs inject a few melodic guitars into the maelstrom, while epic-by-comparison closer The Great Silence consistently engages by virtue of its gnarled ferocity. Caged In Gold is guaranteed to melt faces off from a mile away.