There is no way the album title is meant to foreshadow what’s on the coming horizon. However, Amongst The Low And Empty (Century Media Records) accurately describes Signs Of The Swarm’s newest release. Lacking in ingenuity or inspiration, the deathcore purveyors recycle a small handful of techniques – over-exaggerated marble mouth, sparsely timed drum hits – to muster a record that has value as something intense and heavy, but decidedly not something ground-breaking by any means.
Crown Magnetar does deathcore the right way.
Forgoing the oft-used technique of blubbering legitimately incoherent nonsense, the titans of the industry insert vulgar, spiteful lyrics all over Everything Bleeds (Unique Leader Records). The record comes fresh off the heels of 2022’s EP, Alone In Death, signaling a need for the Coloradans to constantly wreak havoc.
Nothing to Nowhere is the debut EP from new Seek and Strike Records signee’s AASAR. Hailing from the cold mountains of Italy, the four-piece absolutely show they mean business by delivering a relentlessly dark journey of noise, with an underlying hypnotic melody that keeps you hooked from start to finish. While lyrically the record is strongly influenced by themes of Norse and Egyptian mythology, with a concept exploring the spiritual journey of a man headed towards damnation.
Pupil Slicer announced themselves in style with a sea of aggression, when their debut album Mirrors landed in 2021, and they immediately found themselves at home in the UKs thriving post-pandemic underground Metal scene, which saw them hitting the road the following year on a salivating and high-profile tour with Rolo Tomassi and Heriot. Mirrors was an accomplished debut performance of relentless raw energy and anger, with Pupil Slicer hinting at their full potential on the album’s final song ‘Collective Unconscious’, which was deeper and slower in pace, showing a maturity in their song-writing that extended beyond the abrasive math/deathcore on the rest of the record.
Metalcore/deathcore legends, The Acacia Strain comes storming back to your ear holes with not just one new album, but two! The Massachusetts natives have dropped Step Into the Light and Failure Will Follow (Rise Records). The first album is a more “traditional” album, while the second is three, ten-minute, or longer doom tracks. We had seen previously TAS drop a doom track that took up an entire second disk, but this time the doom and gloom gets an album for itself.
April showers started to sprinkle when a line of people outside the Royal Oak Music Theatre, located in the Detroit suburbs, began to move. The long queue was due to the fact the Metalcore masters, August Burns Red was in town to celebrate their 20-year anniversary. They brought along The Devil Wears Prada and Bleed from Within to help them party. Many rejoiced when the doors of the historic movie palace finally opened. Sneakers skidded across the art-deco hall and clamored straight to the front row claiming their spot to witness such acclaimed acts in their favorite genre. Soon the large, multi-level venue was flooded with flannel and a raucous was raised as many eager fans awaited their heroes to take the stage.Continue reading
As a fan of Deathcore back in the early days, I always feel compelled to give newer Deathcore bands a listen when I have the time. As luck would have it, Existentialist’s latest album, The Heretic (Seek & Strike Records), ended up in my inbox, ready for just such an occasion. While this record did not blow me away, it is well executed, especially with the level of symphonic elements bleeding more into some tracks than others.
Lorna Shore burst onto the stage with just the right vibe to start this show out. Thundering unrelenting drums colored with technical guitar riffs and solos filled the theater and spawned energetic mosh pits, while the intense vocals topped it all off. In between songs, the singer Will Ramos, threw out positive uplifting comments and platitudes that reminded me why metalheads; despite their rough exterior, are the nicest people you can meet.
United Kingdom-based bruisers Veiled opted to release ‘Relinquished’ as the first single to give a taste of what was to come in the form of EP The Black Rite (Seek & Strike). Continue reading
Metal is allowed to be fun, especially when three heavyweights collide in a tri-split that not only features original songs from each, but unlikely cover tracks which allow for displays of versatility.