When Our Time Comes – When Our Time Comes

If you like your bands heavy, but don’t appreciate being screamed at by the one holding the microphone, London-based five-piece When Our Time Comes have got you covered. Their blend of tech-metal and alternative rock packs a solid punch, with downtuned guitars and heavy riffs, but throughout their debut self-titled album, the vocals remain clean and melodic, catering for an area of the market that appreciates a pure singing voice.

From the moment Joe Carter-Hawkins’ excellent vocal tone breaches the electronically-tinged opening sequence of “Home Truths”, it’s obvious that melody is a core focus of the band. Hawkins demonstrates an admirable amount of skill through the opening tracks of the album, creating hook-laden choruses with his smooth tone and confident delivery. Beneath the melodic vocals, the instrumentals provide an interesting contrast through downtuned guitars, djent-style riffs and driving, groove-oriented rhythms. This layer of aggression adds character to the band’s sound, providing a welcome injection of energy against the soothing vocals.

The instrumentals are impressive throughout the record, “Breathe Again” and “Impending” being shining examples where experimental time signatures, dynamic tempos and chunky riffs add variation at important moments. As the album progresses, the variation and intrigue provided by the instrumentals is sadly unmatched by the vocals. Despite an impressive opening, Hawkins’ delivery remains static for much of the album and as pleasant as the vocals are in tone, the melodies become recycled and predictable, lessening the effect of his otherwise impressive voice.

While screamed vocals can be polarising to certain audiences, harsh singing often brings an injection of aggression and passion to a record. When Our Times Comes is full of melody and hooks, but the vocals lack this emotional connection, instead feeling too pedestrian and neutral. Hawkins’ vocals are so safe and comfortable throughout the record that by the half-way point, a few bars of screaming would be a welcome change to break up the predictable singing patterns. It would be good to hear Hawkins move through the gears and push himself to offer more variation and passion, rather than staying within his comfort zone.

When Our Time Comes is an intriguing debut album that while not without its flaws, certainly sets the band up as an act to pay close attention to in the future. Mixing the heavy elements of tech-metal alongside the more melodic aspects of alternative rock has huge potential and from this they’ve created a compelling sound. If the band can add more variation to their songwriting and find a way to squeeze more emotion from the vocals, this could be a winning formula.