August Burns Red

Tariot – Drag Me to Hell Review

Tariot – Drag Me to Hell Review

“Look, I’m one of like three metalcore apologists at Angry Metal Guy HQ, and I’ve had it up to here. No more sticky noted car, printer wrapped in festive holiday paper, or the squirting flower trick, okay guys? Plus the rubber rat with “BREAKDOWNS” scrawled with Sharpie was going too far. I already get my seven daily lashes from the Most Holy Gorilla when the punishment of metalcore promos seemed insufficient. As we approach the holidays, the last thing I want to do at the office Christmas party is to open my bonus addressed to “sellout.” Don’t even fucking think about it. And Jesus, Tariot sure ain’t helping my reputation.” Apologists and collaborators up against the wall.

Silent Planet – Superbloom Review

Silent Planet – Superbloom Review

Silent Planet, named after the first installment of C.S. Lewis’ creatively titled Space trilogy, has always been a lyrical triumph and the pinnacle of metalcore consistency throughout the quartet’s four-album run. With the relentless vulnerability and desperation of The Night God Slept and Everything Was Sound, the regality of When the End Began, and the experimental textures of Iridescent, you could always expect technicality and atmosphere balanced throughout.” Where silence is golden.

Ghost in the Ruins – Return to Ash Review

Ghost in the Ruins – Return to Ash Review

Ghost in the Ruins is a metalcore band from North Carolina, born from the ashes of Further the Fall, debut full-length Return to Ash making a wrecking ball to eardrums everywhere. Taking cues from the glory days of metalcore, expect galloping breakdowns, dueling melodic axe work, and vicious vocals galore.” Children of the core.

Void Dancer – Prone Burial Review

Void Dancer – Prone Burial Review

“Metal as a genre is still relatively young. This means both that the meanings and definitions of sub-genres are constantly evolving, and that musicians are continually combining them in novel ways. Void Dancer’s debut Prone Burial purports to be melodic death metal, but is actually more a blend of metalcore and tech death. I’m not mad about it, in spite of being misled, because Void Dancer hit upon something. They manage to do on their debut album what many fail to achieve after several: fuse technicality with punchiness. And they do it in an enjoyable, fairly unique way.” Burn, baby, burn, disco abyss.

Countless Goodbyes – Cycles Review

Countless Goodbyes – Cycles Review

“It’s been pretty interesting to watch metalcore’s evolution over the years. I’m talking specifically about the strain of metalcore that cropped up in the early 2000s, the good cop/bad cop style played by the Killswitch Engages and As I Lay Dyings of the world, the type that infused At the Gates riffs with choruses cribbed from the latest alt-rock band. I ate that shit up in high school and stayed for the party when the style started adopting faster and more technical playing (see: August Burns Red and Texas in July). When djent had its heyminute in the early 2010s, bands realized chugs weren’t too different from breakdowns and thus began to add some djentiness to the proceedings (see: This or the Apocalypse’s Dead Years and Hollow).” The core cycle.

Awaiting Downfall – Distant Call Review

Awaiting Downfall – Distant Call Review

“Sometimes it’s almost impossible not to look back on the past and ask ‘what if?’ As in ‘what if I’d actually taken those piano lessons in middle school and learned to play an instrument?’ or ‘what if I’d actually talked to that cute girl in my sophomore English class and didn’t end up as a single guy in my mid-twenties eating Chinese takeout on my couch while wearing a faded Morbid Angel shirt with the sleeves cut off?’ With debut Distant Call, German thrashy metalcore quartet Awaiting Downfall aim to answer their own versions of this question: what if Trivium didn’t go full Metallicore with The Crusade and instead tried to remake Ember to Inferno?” The implications are staggering!

Beyond the Shore – Ghostwatcher Review

Beyond the Shore – Ghostwatcher Review

“Madam X rarely wanders down the road of hardcore or metalcore since dealing with mallrats and emo’s is troublesome (where to hide the bodies and all…). Once in a while though, venturing out into the unknown pays off and you stumble across an album with a little more imagination and progression (cast your mind back if you will to 2011’s Digital Veil delivered by Travis Richter’s The Human Abstract). Now jump back to 2009 to the release of Lexington, Kentucky based Beyond the Shore’s first EP precursor (The Arctic Front). While the album bore some small resemblance to Parkway Drive, it sounded juvenile and lacked the intensity of say “Dark Days.” Four years later Beyond the Shore haven’t been working on a funeral doom album. No, instead they’ve been working on getting into Metal Blade Records (home to As I Lay Dying and a host of other big names) good graces, honing their sound and gathering some interesting elements to add to their music.” Is our Madam X warming up to metalcore?? Say it ain’t so, X!! Oops, there I go using genres as pejoratives…