Bitter Part of Me

When a band you’ve known and loved makes that monumental transition from underground sensations to trend-setting behemoths, you feel a certain, indescribable sadness. Perhaps it’s the loss of the intimacy of their shows, where there might be a mere 30 in-the-know people in attendance. Or maybe it’s the loss of the esoterica and the uniqueness of their only-600-copies-produced record – now they’re on a major label, that album will be pressed in its thousands, and soon everyone and their fucking dog will be into them. I can tell you now, I will be very sad when Panic Cell make that jump. Because the underground will have lost one of the brightest stars to have shone in years.

‘Bitter Part Of Me’ in short, is a truly phenomenal slab of the underground at its finest. With a refreshingly raw and down-to-earth production ethos, in many ways its like listening to bands such as Stone Sour or Alice In Chains, except that Panic Cell deliver their straight-up metal with a far more old school approach, and an attitude that (mercifully) forgoes the grungy introspection of much of those bands material. Sure, such introspection is present on the album (the title track easily the strongest example of this), but it is somehow less apparent, its place predominately taken up by sheer go-for-the-jugular, tear-ya-face-off posturing. Tracks like the brutal ‘The End’ and the vicious ‘Damn Self Pity’ are landslides of lyrical bile and hugely potent rage – Panic Cell don’t waste their time wallowing in the misery; they pull themselves out of the shit with fists raised high.

But of course, OTT posturing + poor musicianship = nu-metal right? Perhaps, but Panic Cell are by no means poor musicians. A million miles from it, in fact. Singer Luke Bell possesses the kind of ability that hundreds of singers would kill for, driving each song along with unmistakable soaring power. The Cell boast a rhythm section that makes the term ‘powerhouse’ seem like an understatement, and the dual guitars of Kelly Downes and Harj Virdee are, in a world of little to no guitar wizardry, the glorious topping on the most sumptuous of desserts – the solos on the truly beautiful, semi-acoustic ‘Thousand Words’ power ballad is the true highlight of a storming record, showing off the kind of virtuosity on a six stringer that hasn’t been seen in years.

All bow down and praise the NEW BLOOD OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL!!!



*Originally written for the Panic Cell Fanclub*

There is something charming about Panic Cell's refusal to use anything resembling subtlety on this album' from Luke's growled vocals to Harj and Kelly's sledgehammer guitars it's all low-end heavy metal for just over fifty minutes. The mix of Pantera riffs and squealing lead lines is at it's peak on 'Away From Here', which manages to sound both cautiously melodic and bone-shatteringly heavy at the same time, the ballads on other tracks are handled surprisingly competently, with none of the clunky sensitivity that tends to dog some slower metal songs. 'Bitter Part Of Me' is a beast of an album devoid of pretension, and could bring upon a new age of U.K heavy metal.