Belfast rockers More Than Conquerors have channeled all the frustration, disorientation, aggression and emotion of four years effort into their début album. The album title ‘Everything I’ve Learnt’ comes from the experiences the band has lived through so far, including stolen touring vehicles and releasing a couple of EP’s.

More Than Conquerors deliver a refined post hard-core sound reminiscent of Biffy Clyro and Hundred Reasons, whilst retaining huge pop hooks fused with bristling energy.  It’s polished, but not to the point of taking the edges away. Which is a good thing as it could have become formulaic and generic.

The clarity of tone within Kris Platt’s voice resembles that of Darragh Anderson from Coles and is key to More Than Conquerors appeal. Given the skyscraper tall riffs that permeate the music, Platt’s voice generates a significant contrast, like the epicenter of a storm brewing around it. Platt’s lyrics tend to be in the form of parables, looking for forgiveness for instance on When The Well Runs Dry  “I only talk to God when there’s something I need.”  But they wouldn’t amount to much if they weren’t married to great melodies and melody is central to the songs that lace the album, such as All That We Can, Pits Of Old, Jaw and previous single When The Well Runs Dry.

Bring Me To The Blood Bank slows the tempo down a notch, but this is a full on album where there is little time to catch your breath. The second half of the album does struggle to keep up the same standard of songs compared to the first half though. Hearth & Home and Six Weeks, while passable lack the spark required to lodge them in your mind. But nothing is gag inducing here; it’s just that the bar was set so high from the outset. This is a highly promising album and More Than Conquerors have well and truly announced themselves as a band of style and substance.