There is something about British screamo bands that just doesn’t sit right with me, and it usually boils down to the actual vocal screaming. There seems to be something wrong with the British throat and lungs, as if they simply weren’t designed to vociferously force out torrents of anger. It just sounds a bit high-pitched and weedy in comparison to the hugely satisfying growls of American counterparts – take Slipknot’s Corey Taylor or even Dave Grohl as examples.

And so lies the problem with this effort by Maths. On the surface it appears their front-man can’t actually sing, and not a single note is ‘sung’ throughout this 30 minutes of cacophonous racket. Melody is replaced by intolerable amounts of meaningless noise that all just blends into one. This would normally be bearable from what is, after all, a screamo outfit, but you can’t understand a single lyric the guy hurls at you, and so his role is reduced to just another rhythmic element. The fact his lyrics are indecipherable may not be entirely his fault – the production on this album does seem relatively basic.

The instrumental support cast are, however, extremely good. Furious yet metrical drumming is accompanied by unusual guitar chords, broken up to weave strangely mesmeric patterns before the distortion pedal is kicked into life and things get that bit more rowdy and fierce. The instrumental sections often border on math-rock (whether the band’s name is a nod to this genre is unknown), and all seem to flow seamlessly, one into the next.

It is this seamless nature that is the most pleasing thing about Descent – it really is an album as opposed to a mere collection of songs. The 12 tracks all link together uninterrupted to create one gargantuan 30-minute beast of a piece, and it is clearly something that has been constructed with care. I imagine if one were to see Maths live they would play the album in its entirety from start to finish, with haunting piano chords opening and closing the piece in a rather Mogwai-esque fashion.

It is the rhythmic sensibilities, rather than the actual screamo element, that make Descent so appealing. Being able to pack a punch and provide sparse haunting sections all in one fluid movement makes this Norfolk-based quartet a sure hit.