Reviewed by Graeme Crawford

Altars are a relatively new hardcore/metal band hailing from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Striving to be "forceful, passionate, heavy", the band certainly tick all of those boxes. Vocalist Mike Searle has an emphatic bellow, which combined with his personal experience based lyrics certainly provide force and passion. The heaviness comes mainly from the brutal sounding guitars, as the drums are lacking some depth and power in the recording. Wrapped up in the usual First Strike Records environmentally friendly recycled and plastic free digi pack, this has all the makings of a solid foundation on which to build a career. However there are a few issues to be found. There are a couple of guitar tricks that the band utilise too often for my liking, such as staccato riffing, and harmonics. There is nothing really too wrong with any part of the writing or musicianship of 'Opposition', yet it all just seems a bit familiar. It may just be that Altars are still finding their own niche, the band being only 18 months old. But at the moment, there is maybe not enough here to stand out from the crowd.

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