Cd Review: Premonitions Of War - Left In Kowloon

Since I mentioned “What the hell has been happening to Premonitions Of War?!” the other day, I figured I’d make take a look back at Left In Kowloon.

While a lot of people weren’t quite sure what to make of it, they got a lot of artist merit for “Left In Kowloon” which might be considered metalcore. Premonitions Of War sounds like they looked themselves in a studio for a week and beat the crap out of their instruments until they came out with songs. Most of the songs are short (under 2 minutes typically), and kinda grindy. Every now and then they show off some southern influence. The vocals sound like the vocalist gargled with broken glass. To break up the action, there’s a five minute industrial/ambient deal placed right beside another five minute song. The length of the whole album totals up 25 minutes.

They managed one year to play 300 shows! Now that’s a hard working band. The constant touring would probably be the reason for all the lineup changes. One of the newer mebers is Nate Johnson Of Deadwater Drowning. If you hear his guest vocals on The Acacia Strains album “The Dead Walk” you’ll hear how powerful his low bark is.

The general feeling is a different kind of brutality than most people are familiar with. It’s kind of a grating sound, like having you’re face run across pavement. Unfortunately, the nature of the music so odd and different that a lot of people don’t really get it, and simply dismiss it as noise.

8/10

Premonitions Of War
Victory Records
Blackmarket Activies