Employed To Serve - Fallen Star 

Employed To Serve are as immensely likeable as they are pummelingly heavy. The Woking five-piece - fronted by the husband-and-wife duo of vocalist Justine Jones and guitarist Sammy Urwin - are dyed-in-the-denim metalheads that innately understand the giddy thrills of bludgeoning riffs and titanic grooves. Their fifth full-length ‘Fallen Star’ is an absolute delight, primarily because it’s so easy to grasp. Contemporary tech metal sometimes feels like it’s in an arms race to create a more OTT and intense version of itself. But here, while the band frequently come up with some spectacularly heavy goods (try not to smile during the breakdown that ends ‘Now Thy Kingdom Come’), these 11 tracks channel their intensity into killer grooves (kinetic opener ‘Treachery’ is a ruthless highlight) and increased use of Urwin’s clean vocals (see the soaring, Rolo Tomassi-esque choruses of the album’s title track). Employed To Serve are one of the UK’s best and most beloved metal bands right now and ‘Fallen Star’ does a stellar job of expanding the parameters of their joyously heavy world.