Glamour Of The Kill - Vengeance - review

Glamour Of The Kill - Vengeance - review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Album
Vengeance
Style
Metalcore
Release date
January 22, 2026
Reviewer
6.0
7.2
Tracklist
01. First Breath Of The Reaper
02. The Forgotten
03. Grace Of God
04. Vengeance
05. Feed Them To The Pigs
06. Diseased
07. Delirium
08. Rampage
09. Aeternum Immortalis
10. Suffer
A review by
omne metallum
February 01, 2026
Back with a Vengeance?

Returning to a band who you used to enjoy years ago is a test of how durable those rose tinted glasses are; were they fond memories, or just youthful naïveté? This is the question fans of the UK metalcore scene around the late 2000s and early 2010s will have to ask themselves as Glamour Of The Kill return... again. After a short-lived reunion in 2019, Glamour Of The Kill test whether you can stack reunion hype bonuses with their 2026 return in Vengeance.

A band who were largely in the undertow rather than riding the crest of the metalcore wave, Glamour Of The Kill] were one of the plethora of bands who fell away as the UK metalcore scene receded from peak popularity. Their previous emo-tinged metalcore sound won them a small but loyal following alongside scene fans who came and went. In Vengeance, Glamour Of The Kill show they are not trading on past glories, and avoid the pitfall that befalls many a returning band of picking up where they left off when they broke up and immediately sounding dated. Vengeance walks a balancing act between appealing to fans of their old sound and moving into new sonic realms; granted, they aren't miles apart, but it reflects an awareness and maturity on the band's part.

The first half of the album largely serves as the bridge between the band's past and its present, with it being the more familiar sounding, but altered, metalcore of old. This has mixed success, as the songwriting can't match the aspiration, with "The Forgotten" (a track that is way too long for its own good) and "Vengeance" sounding extremely generic, and lacking much to hook you in, as a result of Kingswood and Brookes just running through metalcore 101 tropes on the guitars. Add in Richmond's tendency to do a nasal whine on occasion on tracks like "Aeternum Immortalis" and "Feed Them To The Pigs", and you have the album's worst parts.

Truth be told, aside "Grace Of God" and "Feed Them To The Pigs", it's the second half of the album that serves as the real highlight, as the songwriting takes a big step up from "Delirium" through to the end of the album with performances to match, featuring expansive guitar work and interesting drum work. "Suffer", "Aeternum Immortalis" and the aforementioned "Delirium" are some of the best work the band has put out to date.

It's this split that will largely colour your experience on Vengeance, whether the second half can redeem the first or if it comes too little too late. Glamour Of The Kill are back with a Vengeance, though whether it lasts for long this time is another question.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 6
Songwriting: 5
Originality: 5
Production: 7
Written on 01.02.2026 by
Written on 01.02.2026 by
Just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening.

Comments

Comments: 1 Visited by 6 users
Thryce
Retired Staff
Elite

Posts: 4553


Permalink
08.03.2026 - 09:25
Thryce
Retired Staff
Elite

Posts: 4553


Never heard of Glamour Of The Kill before. Your review, and the fact that they’re a 2010s band making a return, caught my interest. This mostly lands on the run-of-the-mill side of the spectrum though: catchy, metalcore 101 stuff, as you said... though I’ll give them credit for a mildly surprising thrash-leaning bite here and there. Can't say I'm too fond of the vocals either. And the album probably could’ve survived losing a track or two, particularly one of those painfully radio-friendly ones.
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