It's not often a band will describe themselves as “Screamo” in the current climate, given that this term, along with Metalcore, seems to conjure up images of a scene that's overburdened with ten a penny Killswitch Engage and Alexisonfire clones with absolutely nothing new to say.

So what of The Handshake Affair? On this showing at least the German sextet certainly bring something slightly different to bring to the table, mainly thanks to the way they incorporate Eric Cipowicz' synth textures into the tracks. They do all of the things you would associate with genre, part screamed part melodic vocals, chunky riffs and crashing drums can be found almost everywhere on these four tracks but that's not quite the whole story.

Thankfully these guys are astute enough to realise that these staple ingredients of the screamo sound will only get them so far and that they need something a little different to stand out from the crowd. If anything they could try and utilise the keyboard textures more as when done well, as on the bridge/interlude of “How Sweet Thin Shadows Are” or behind the bridge of “Sins & Alibis”, they really enhance what could have been very average tracks otherwise.

In their more straight ahead moments The Handshake Affair don't have quite enough individuality though, their two pronged vocal attack and angular riffs echoing a format that everyone and their floppy fringed little brother is using at the moment. They are at least trying to move slightly out of this norm and should be applauded for their efforts.

Contact: www.myspace.com/thehandshakeaffair

John Lewins