The Banner formed in 1999 and after a series of line-up changes and one short break up they finally released their debut album in 2006 on the super hip Ferret label. While that album was let down a bit by too much hype and a too clear production, the band did enough to interest me and so I approached Frailty with a fair bit of anticipation. I have to say, quite happily, that The Banner, second time around has managed to live up to and even exceed expectations.

The band basically plays hardcore with some death and thrash influences. I would call this metal-core simply because it’s a melding of some bruising hardcore with a bit of metal. Luckily there are no melodic Gothenburg riffs and even more luckily, no saccharine sweet choruses. This is, for the most part, pounding, aggressive heavy music.

Stand out tracks include album opener The Wolf which sounds like All Out War going head to head with Bloodlet and it’s an awesome song. There’s the superb A Hellbound Heart which again has a Bloodlet feel to it. Sphrenia is quite awesome as the guitars manage to build a wall of sound while still sounding melodic and Funerals is a solid kick to the balls with its NYHC meets Earth Crisis mood.  The highlight of the album though is the superb Dusk. The song starts off with some clean guitars and vocals building a mood before exploding into a wall of sound as the band seem to take some inspiration from the noise rock of Jesus Lizard and mix it up with the epic wall of sound feel of Isis with its jarring and discordant yet melodic feel while the whole interplay of heavy distorted parts and clean melodic parts works superbly.

The melding of fast aggressive parts with slightly slowed down mid paced tempos work superbly. Most songs essentially work under the same format. There are completely frantic hardcore riffs, some slowed down sections and breakdowns aplenty but The Banner manage to instill a sense of originality and a lot of aggression into these songs. You don’t get the feeling that most of this has been done before and the music for the most part sounds quite fresh even if The Banner owes a bit to the late 90s Victory Records roster; mainly All Out War, Earth Crisis and Bloodlet.

Now, I love all three of those bands and that is going to determine how much you’ll like The Banner. If you’re unfamiliar with the aforementioned three then check them out first. If you hate those bands, then don’t bother with Frailty because it will not work but if you love those bands then chances are you’ll have plenty to like in Frailty.



Label - Ferret
Year of Release - 2008