Back in the early part of this century, after the arena-filling overly macho frat boys of Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach had faded from view, there came an interesting development in alternative music. From a brief moment fans couldn’t get enough of bands who combined a ferocious hardcore sound with lyrics soaked in emotional torment. These bands inspired Paramore, You Me At Six and Enter Shikari. Loosely termed ‘post hardcore’, their sound was as subtle as a brick through a greenhouse window, but it gave fans a connection through vulnerability in the lyrics.

Whether bands were singing about being betrayed by girls or were angered by the politics of the day, it didn’t matter What did was that their musical bludgeoning was wrapped in something tangible. This is not something you can say yet about Essex quintet We Are The Ocean. Though the band certainly look and sound the part, with skater T-shirts flanked by heavily tattooed arms and songs that are a Molotov cocktail of crushing guitars and percussive power, their brawny musicianship doesn’t feel like it’s accompanied by anything else. They can whip up a crowd, sure, as they do onstage at the O2 Academy, with bodies colliding throughout their hour-long set, but when singer Dan Brown screams for affirmation or throws his arms about, he’s more reminiscent of a young Fred Durst then anything else.

Their songs are perfectly fine with Lucky Ones and Nothing Good Has Happened Yet making good, solid, head-nodding rock songs. But you can never feel close to them and are never really connected. This is only their first album tour, so there’s plenty of time for things to change, but, at the moment, We Are The Ocean are all muscle and no heart.