For the longest time, the concept of metal bands and Singapore have never crossed paths in my consciousness, but after watching Alpha Wolf play live in Singapore, I was simultaneously introduced to three pretty solid local bands, one of which was Aggressive Raisin Cat. Biased for progressive metal or not, they were undeniably the best local act that night.
Cough Bin starts off with some stellar riffage that is definitely home to the progressive metalcore style, and the drumming to back it is pretty damn solid. The vocalist comes in and his screams are pretty solid, albeit his lows are a bit unenunciated. Despite that, his vocal range is definitely commendable, and his cleans are clean too. As the song goes on, the band goes through multiple passages, all in progressive nature, whether it's lovely chugs or colourful tapping leads, and the riff right after the chorus is tasty.
In true progressive metalcore style, there's a lot of complex drum parts and djent like riffs, electronic ambience and clean reverb lead lines, background oohs and synth melodies. They even throw a pretty fun solo at the end to top it all off, but not before finishing with the classic piano and strings outro. For a seven minute song, they might not score extremely high on originality or uniqueness but they definitely do very well in songwriting.
I remember them joking on stage between songs that they were basically "a knock-off Periphery", and although they do share the same genre space, I honestly think Aggressive Raisin Cat is on track to becoming a strong band of their own. Cough Bin is only their third song ever, and has surprised me with how solid it is. A band comprising members only slightly older than me, it's wild to me how well they've done in such a short time. I'm definitely looking forward to their debut record, and finally seeing what they're capable of by industry standards.
Rating: 3/5