When researching this EP, I discovered that Cove are a band that received a fair amount of hype in 2016. This set some alarm bells ringing for me. 2016 was towards the tail end of a dark time in the history of rock music, so a metalcore band (with which the scene is still massively over saturated) being pushed in some major publications didn’t do a lot to excite me about this band. Thankfully A Conscious Motion is not an EP that falls into the problems that a lot of bland metalcore releases do. Instead it has problems all of its own.
The first thing that struck me was the similarity between the verses of the opening track, CoincideCollide, and dream2 by Code Orange, specifically in the vocal melody. It sounds almost identical. The instrumentation is even trying to achieve a similarly unsettling atmosphere, which only goes to strengthen the want to go and listen to a vastly superior track in dream2. You’d think Cove would make sure that they didn’t sound like they were copying directly from one of the most talked about bands of last year. Now it is entirely possible that they came up with this melody independently without having hear dream2, the issue is just how similar they sound. This track isn’t the only one to have an eerily similar vocal line to another song. Third track, All I Believe, has a vocal line over the verses that sounds a lot like Thunder by Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. The fact that I can name a specific track for both these occasions shows that this crosses the line from simple inspiration. I don’t think Cove stole these melodies, but they are incredibly similar in a way that I can’t overlook in critiquing the album.
The rest of this album sounds like watered down Architects songs. They even play with the same dynamic changes. Going from softer, atmospheric sections into heavier, more technical sections. The problem here is the execution. When Architects do the same trick, the heavy parts are heavy enough to crush steel. This makes the explosion of noise feel like a shotgun blast to the face. It’s an intense and visceral feeling. When Cove do it, it feels like getting tickled with a feather. This is because when they go heavy there isn’t a lot of force. Yeah, it’s heavier and more technical than the previous section but not by a lot. It doesn’t give that rush. They’ve taken a technique and tried to use it without understanding what makes it so effective in the first place. It’s just disappointing.
Cove have delivered a very flawed EP. It’s okay to love Architects and want to be in a band like that. I love Architects. It’s alright to take influence from Code Orange and Frank Carter, they are two of the most successful artists of last year. But not adding any personality of your own and rounding off some of the rough edges to try and make it more palatable isn’t alright. This EP isn’t very good. I suggest skipping it. Maybe a full length from Cove will have more to bring to the table.
A Conscious Motion is out now, and can be purchased here.
The band can be found here:
