Written By Kevin McSweeney
Xenith To No Avail Album Review
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for! And when it comes to rock and metal, so much to be commended for! We’ve covered a lot of Mancunian musical output here at Metal Lair, from our review of Petrichor, the third album from Shape of Water last year, to covering relatively recent releases from bands such as Guilt Trip and Winterfylleth in our Seven Deadly Songs feature.
We also caught Tortured Demon live in late 2024, and hope to have a new album soon from the Oldham thrashers. This is of course but a fleeting taste of Manchester’s immense contribution to music.
We now seek to tantalise your tastebuds further with Xenith To No Avail album review, released independently on August 28th. They are described by Garry Hutchinson of San PR as a; “…UK melodic death metal crew,” who “…have crafted a stunning debut album that draws from The Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates and Opeth.” Let’s go through it track-by-track, to see if Garry has got it right. He usually does, in fairness to him.
Xenith To No Avail Album Review
Take Me Back Where I Belong
This title might conjure images of country roads in West Virginia, but the lengthy guitar intro awoke long-suppressed cravings for the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate in my mind.
The reasons for this will be obvious for the band’s parents, if not necessarily the band themselves. When the heaviness kicks in, it’s very much the Slaughter of The Soul blueprint, right down to the harmonised lead guitars.
This is complimented by a melodic chorus that would be eminently radio-friendly, if not for the harshness of the vocals and general extremity of the delivery.
The track goes on a bit too long for my liking. At over seven minutes in duration, it’s a lengthy way to introduce the album. It might have had more impact if a bit of discipline had been applied in the songwriting, but that’s a lesson it’s taken many an artist a long time to learn.
Alone
I love the way they impose a blast beat within a 6/8 time framework. People who actually know something about music might be able to explain it better, but it gives the whole thing an explosive but jarring feel.
Once again, we have hooks that would be palatable for a mainstream audience, but for the extremity of their execution.
We also have a staccato section that is straight from Trendkill-era Pantera, and a solo that is bluesier than it had any right to be within this context. The track is much more brief than its predecessor, which is no bad thing.
Bludgeoned
Love that tile! No messing around there – a brutal title for a brutal song, in which, I’m delighted to say, they found room for some Cannibal Corpse trills.
The track is a mid-paced mauler, carried forth on a convoy of double kicks and syncopated china crashes.
I know fuck all about technical guitar, but the early solo seems kinda proggy to me, as if its a snippet of Dream Theater amid the cacophony.
Come to think of it, the later solo seems especially technical as well – very much in Megadeth territory, with further syncopation and a flirtation with polyrhythms bringing an element of Tool to proceedings.
It ends with a metalcore breakdown. That’s some musical distance covered!
Incite the Tragedy
This song commences with some gentle guitar work in 6/8 time that sounds almost like Fear of The Dark-era Iron Maiden covering Golden Brown by The Stranglers.
Shortly thereafter, it explodes into a furious and frenetic blast beat and black metal-style tremolo picking, retaining melody despite the brutality. As it slows, it switches from 6/8 to 4/4 in a pleasingly off-kilter fashion.
Chuck Schuldiner and the boys in Death were fond of that tactic back in the day. The guitar solo is pure Heartwork-era Carcass, and it makes sense that a British band would wish to evoke that most seminal of melodic death metal albums.
I don’t know if I made this clear, but these boys can shred, with technical solos aplenty. They chose this song for an accompanying video, and why not? It showcases them well.
No Time to Waste
They waste no time in opening this song with twin lead guitars that once again evoke Heartwork, and the title track in particular.
The verse riff involves some highly elaborate embellishments that see the guitars and drums operating in perfect lockstep.
There’s more shredding to be savoured in the solos, and there is an abundance of hooks throughout, which makes me wonder if this wouldn’t have been a more obvious choice for an accompanying video.
There’s not much on here that screams commercial viability, but you can’t deny those hooks.
Descending
This is a short instrumental interlude that fades in, lead guitar foremost, in much the same way as Metallica’s Blackened.
This gives way to some clean arpeggiated riffing that hints at Hotel California before getting heavy again, with the china cymbal once again making its presence felt. Less than two minutes later, it’s over.
Killer Instinct
This track starts with a plaintive-sounding lead guitar over an arpeggiated riff that, to my mind at least, is crying out for someone to sing imploringly over it in Spanish.
This leads to a rudimentary riff over a slow rhythm that is punishingly heavy, but in a nü-metal kind of way, before reverting to the melodic arpeggios.
The vocals remain harsh throughout. We then have a black metal blast beat/tremolo picking combination before it all goes a bit djent roughly half way through.
They perform two distinct solos: one melodic, one pure Megadeth, and it all ends with a coda that recalls Machine Head’s Davidian.
Arteries
I’m taking a guess at the time signature that opens this song. I believe it to be 6/4. It seems roughly the same as that of Tool’s Schism, only in a way more intense context.
It switches to 6/8 time after a single-stroke crescendo drum roll, like the one used by Philthy Taylor throughout Motörhead’s Ace of Spades.
They love that drum roll, by the way, deploying it frequently on this album. I have to say, I love the variety in the time signatures.
It certainly keeps things interesting. There’s more clean arpeggios as a kind of oasis in the middle of all the heaviness, then some tribal rhythms and a build towards a black metal-adjacent finish.
That’s the modern kind of black metal that concerns itself with nature rather than Satan – and there’s even some slide guitar in there, which is a nice touch.
The Weight to Pretend
The opening bars of the penultimate track hint dangerously at a power ballad. I’m almost waiting for David Coverdale to start singing.
As it picks up its pace, it veers into a four-chord progression that flirts with 1980s hard rock. This track could be the album’s answer to Metallica’s Escape.
The vocals remain harsh at all times but it seems to be their most palatable offering for a mainstream audience – that’s palatable with a huge asterisk, of course, but it remains melodic even when it gets thrashy.
The solo recalls Sunset Strip in its late-20th Century pomp and the whole ends with a guitar not-so-gently weeping into the void.
Out of Contempt
The final track commences in the manner of melodic metalcore, sounding like a slightly askew version of Say My Name by Novelists FR, (a song that featured in our Seven Deadly Songs feature in May 2025!)
I find myself pondering the way in which the album has got less heavy as it has gone on when they confound me by dialling up the aggression again, then dialling it up even more.
The Novelists FR-style riff recurs as a kind of leitmotif throughout the song, but for the most part, it’s a brutal ending to a promising album from a band with the potential to prove a fine addition to the Mancunian musical legacy.
Metal Lair awards To No Avail by Xenith four devil horns out of five.
Track listing:
1. Take Me Back Where I Belong
2. Alone
3. Bludgeoned
4. Incite The Tragedy
5. No Time To Waste
6. Descending
7. Killer Instinct
8. Arteries
9. The Weight To Pretend
10. Out Of Contempt
Line-Up:
Billy Hourigan – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Casey Dennis – Guitar
Jamo Morris – Bass
Karim Treifi – Drums.
Zenith Online:
About The Author
Kevin McSweeney is Metal Lair’s resident scribe of the underground, eternally rummaging through the global metal scene for riffs worth your time.
As the guiding hand behind Seven Deadly Songs every Friday, he has an uncanny knack for finding the track you didn’t know you needed, usually before finishing his pint.
Equal parts loyal, kind, and quietly razor-witted, Kevin brings deep knowledge, impeccable taste, and a steady, reliable presence to Metal Lair.
Read More From This Author:
Album Review: Made Flesh by Untitled With Drums
Sakoya – World Gone Crazy EP Review
The Larches – Nihilistic Majesties EP Review
Album Review: Exodus Unknown by Imperium
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