WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDIANS - The Split [Review]

Genre: Hardcore

Label: Self-released
Released: March 16th, 2012
Reviewer: Kareem Chehayeb

Who Will Guard the Guardians are a Jordanian hardcore metal band, formed in late 2011. The band comprises of Adnan on vocals, Moe on guitar, Firas on bass, and Ala'a on drums. Having recently opened up for German death metallers, Fleshcrawl (what a way to make your live debut!). The band released a demo of three tracks which is also released in a split album with Dubai-based death metallers, Billy Bob's Blood Drenched Brew called "The Split".

The first track is "Stand Up" and it just starts with no short intro or build up. Im really fascinated by the drum work, which combines elements of punk, death metal, and thrash. Adnan's vocals came as a pleasant surprise to me! He reminds me of Troy Sanders from Mastodon from their older albums with a bit of Chad Gray (Mudvayne, Hellyeah).

The next track Seven is really awesome. The unique drum beats and dissonant guitars combined with Adnan's growls are a match made in (hardcore) heaven, or should I say hell? In any case, it's really awesome. I enjoy the gang vocals too. WWGTG does them right…I find them so overdone and used at such cliche moments with other bands these days.


This great demo ends with Obstacles, that sounds more thrash than anything, which is a product of hardcore punk anyway! I love Moe's solo too. This demo has been filled with heavy riffs, dissonant riffs and the like…but it was nice to have a melodic interlude with a nice solo in this track.

Great start for Who Will Guard the Guardians after only starting a few months ago! I can only imagine better things to come for this hardcore band! Worth listening!!!

[Ed note: Visit WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDIANS onFacebookand Youtubeto stream "The Split"and for all WWGTG news concerning upcoming shows and releases]