The Banner’s sophomore album for Ferret, Frailty, is written about reflections on a lot of negative subject matter. Suicide, regret, loss and past failings are all looked into, and they certainly sound pissed off about it all. 

After the short and slightly weird ‘Welcome F**kers’ The Banner move onto ‘The Wolf’,  the song’s slow doom start giving way to a dose of fast, angry metal with large hints of hardcore and heavy punk elements thrown in.  It's a mix that works well and one the band sustaind throughout most of the album as  ‘Leechbath’ continues in similar vein before ‘A Hellbound Heart’ kicks in with it’s slow chugging guitar built upon with a cleaner sound but that only paves the way for yet another aural onslaught. 

The Banner do occasionally add further elements to their music with an almost Satyricon sound to their guitar creeping in on some of the songs, ‘Sphrenia’ most  noticeably but they resist the urge for clean vocals, even when the song seems to be crying out for it, something which is evident especially on closing track ‘The Father And The Wayward Son and it's the punk/hardcore side of the band which comes through not only in the music but also in the length of their songs. In fact some of the short songs, ‘Ratflesh’ especially, provide the best moments her but at just over half an hour Frailty is an album you can scream along to at full volume and vent all of your frustration.

Darren Brushneen