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Hailing from and having conquered little more than Ontario’s little dirty Hammer, Counterparts is prone to strike the unexposed with an implement of more impact, more complexity and greater deftness with their debut full-length release of “Prophets” in early 2010. The group is one of the countless many under twenty metalcore bands to emerge from the southern Ontario music scene within the past five years. They bear the startling distinction however, of virtuosity; being among the genre’s elite. “Prophets” is a veritable masterpiece of metalcore composition; satisfyingly heavy with a raucous hardcore spirit, superb technical finery and melody without kitsch, all slickly polished by the hands of metal-guru Jordan Valeriote at Sundown studios. The fledgling five have been an immediate presence in their scene, maybe never having inured themselves to the rite-of-passage despair of playing to an empty room or a peopled one in which nobody cares; perhaps owing to their highly captivating, highly competent, high -energy live performances. Counterparts has won the near unanimous favour of local audiences, bands and a few scene luminaries, affording them the opportunity to be immediately and consistently playing prominent local shows, an Ontario/ east-coast Canadian tour and the endorsement of Silverstein’s entrepreneurial two-fifths; taken on by Paul Koehler’s Split the Atom management team and releasing “Prophets” on Shane Told’s Verona records. Still, the band’s talent rather than laurels or reputation truly precedes them and Prophets is an album that must be heard.