Evergreen Terrace is a Jacksonville-based outfit that's been recently added to the Metal Blade family, following the ever increasing demand for metalcore bands which is the direct result of the popularity that this genre has been enjoying these last few years. Even though "Wolfbiker" is the band's first release under the protective wings of Brian Slagel's label, the quintet has been actively recording their music since 2001, thus making this their fourth full-length album. The main question that needs to be asked here, and with applies to most new releases belonging to that genre, is whether Evergreen Terrace have managed to create an album that has something new to offer in this scene. The answer to that: not a straightforward one, I'm afraid!

My first impression after having listened to the opening track "Bad Energy Troll" was not so positive, seeing as it is a song based on the same rhythmical mid tempo riffs and screamo vocals that most bands of this genre tend to use nowadays. It is quite clear that these lads are focused on creating easy and memorable melodies, and that can be both a positive and negative aspect, depending on what it is that you are looking for from a metalcore release. There are many references to the music of Sepultura, both in terms of vocal and guitar contributions, but that was not enough to make songs like "Wolfbiker" sound more appealing to me.

The term 'metalcore' is soon to be challenged, though, seeing as the majority of the remaining nine compositions, good representatives of which are "High Tide Or No Tide" and "Where There Is Fire We Will Carry Gasoline", contain large quantities of catchy refrains and melodic vocals which are normally associated with the Emocore scene, and which are not particularly to my liking. Having said that, I did find a couple of compositions where the mix of melodic guitars and clear vocals worked really well. "Chaney Can't Quite Riff Like Helmet's Page Hamilton" is a Punky composition whose main Maidenesque melodic theme will make it quite appealing to young audiences and same applies for "Starter" which, even though it contains equally catchy melodies, it comes across as a far more atmospheric composition.

Those of you who were hoping for a less melodic, more straight forward approach to metalcore will only find songs like "Rip This" and "Rolling Thunder Mental Illness" to your liking - the former being a pretty average composition and the latter being only a minute and a half long.

Looking back on my criticism towards this release I realise that it comes across as quite negative, but one needs to realise that it is simply based on my personal taste. As most fans of bands like Agnostic Front and Madball, I find it quite difficult to relate to a band whose target audience is at least half my age, and I hope that my argument clearly justifies this rating.

**½

Review by John Stefanis