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It’s comforting to know that no sooner have Heights called it a day, that there are already bands paying homage to their input on UK hardcore – at least that’s how it feels from Canvas’s album opener, No Future.

While staying firmly in the vein of a number of HC stalwarts, the Bedfordshire bruisers try their best to diversify the genre by ushering in post-rock elements on Tired Eyes and Live Exist, but vocally it’s missing something. The swathing instrumentals push the music in more interesting directions, but the vocals lack any serious depth – kind of like putting a wave machine in a paddling pool. Lyrics like ‘I’m getting bored of life’ and ‘It’s hard to live when you’re already dead’ are akin to despondent teenage poetry, and while we’re not expecting Oscar Wilde to front a hardcore band, it’s hard to fully immerse yourself in Canvas’s world. There’s the odd flurry of adrenaline-pumping ferocity in Tarot and these guys have the potential to really take it somewhere – they just need a lot more work.

Via Transcend Music

Luke Morton joined Metal Hammer as Online Editor in 2014, having previously worked as News Editor at popular (but now sadly defunct) alternative lifestyle magazine, Front. As well as helming the Metal Hammer website for the four years that followed, Luke also helped relaunch the Metal Hammer podcast in early 2018, producing, scripting and presenting the relaunched show during its early days. He also wrote regular features for the magazine, including a 2018 cover feature for his very favourite band in the world, Slipknot, discussing their turbulent 2008 album, All Hope Is Gone.