“Part of the Unique Leader staple, The Last Ten Seconds of Life drop their self-titled album on the masses, bringing a nu-metal meets deathcore hybrid to the table. On closer inspection, the Pennsylvanian crew has been alive and kicking for over a decade, releasing a steady stream of albums, culminating in this sixth LP. Combining two of the more divisive metal styles of the post-millennium era takes balls.” Get your balls out of the Hall.
“In my very limited experience with the deathcore genre, Shadow of Intent is the master, chief. I’ve never before been arsed with Lorna Shore or any of the rank-and-file, nor do I care that Worm Shepherd have made a lot of waves in a relatively short period. Their debut In the Wake ov Sol dropped a touch over a year ago, and already they’re on Unique Leader and working with what I’m told are some big names. I wouldn’t spank Grier‘s ass over any of this. All I want is some good fucking music. Given their name, I’d say Worm Shepherd are obligated to pied piper my ass to the promised land with Ritual Hymns.” Worm wrangling.
![Whitechapel – Kin [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Whitechapel-Kin.jpeg.webp)
“Kin, as its name perhaps suggests, is a distillation of the themes expressed in The Valley: family. Bozeman laments his family’s disintegration and his own loss of innocence throughout, represented through a breed of deathcore even more mature than its predecessor. The heavy hits heavier, the bleeding heart hemorrhages thicker, and the songwriting accomplishes a storytelling flow to relate it all.” Deathcore in the family.
“A phenomenon risen in the last decade is the concept of “blackened deathcore.” While Winds of Plague’s cheesy keyboard licks copied and pasted atop chug-happy deathcore is business as usual, it wasn’t until bands like Make Them Suffer and Abigail Williams cranked up the moody -core brutality with black metal tropes in songwriting, drumming, and keys. More recently represented by bands like Lorna Shore or Mental Cruelty, blackened deathcore (if you accept it as a style) has become one of those quasi-sub-genres that fuses the oft-maligned “scene-core” and those of the “trve” style – a trve clvsterfvkk if you will. Quietly riding the wave is collective The Breathing Process, whose string of releases have contributed in small ways to this weird-ass style.” I see a mall kid and I want to paint him black.
“We Butter the Bread with Butter have gone full circle, entering 2021 with the same original lineup as when the duo first spawned in 2007, plus one adorable doggo. I’m not sure how that happened, but at least their secret formula remains intact. Electronic dance music and deathcore renew their vows on Das Album, drumming and bassing to and fro, trapping me beneath the weight of a stout breakdown or whipping me around a stupid catchy chorus.” I can’t believe it’s still Butter!
“If any band has cursed history, it’s Signs of the Swarm. Seemingly the hub of the most garbage human beings in the history of deathcore, more allegations plague these Pittsburgh natives than breakdowns. Sexual assault allegations beleaguer former vocalist CJ McCreery and former bassist Jacob Toy, while physical abuse accusations mar former guitarist Cory Smarsh. Smartly, the group has distanced itself from these individuals, showing integrity in spite of its streak of scumbags. Continuing as a trio, Absolvere is no step down in brutality, energy, or most importantly, quality.” Away from the maddening swarms.
“When Vulvodynia put out Psychosadistic Design all the way back in 2016, it served as an intro to slam for a great number of people. It was up there with Ingested’s Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering for entry-level stuff that would eventually lead the listener to bands like Ecchymosis, Gorevent, and Kraanium. It had a modern sheen, plenty of obvious hooks, and an obnoxious sense of humor, but it also had enough in common with slam to draw the listener down the rabbit hole.” Death, where is thy slam?
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a genre stickler at heart. I find a lot of comfort knowing where to fit every release that comes across my doorstep, so when acts swoop in to challenge that, I’m simultaneously uneasy and intrigued. There are plenty of folks that fall into this category but perhaps the most intriguing has been the UK act Conjurer. I’ve seen these lads described as everything from Swallow the Sun-esque death/doom, Cult of Luna-worshiping post-metal/sludge, to the blackened doom of Thou. 2018’s Mire is a landmark in its own right, and as we anxiously await its followup, we find newcomers Moon Reaper, definitely fans of Conjurer.” Genre reaping.
“People around here know me as not being too into the more extreme quarters of the metal gallery. Hell, when I started writing, I’d barely prodded beyond the confines of Swedish death metal like Bloodbath and Vicious Art. Anaal Nathrakh was the exception to the rule, but even there I was more drawn to the melodic elements of their work, such as those showcased on Hell Is Empty… and deathcore never even appeared on my radar until I was trampled by Xenobiotic. Since crawling into an empty cubicle at AMG offices (while ignoring all the blood) some of the more unseemly viscera have begun to seep into the hollows of my skull. It’s a slow and sporadic process, and though my experience with tech death and deathcore remains scant, it’s enough to lash together a somewhat cohesive frame against which to place techdeathcore ensemble Cognitive.” Evil thoughts, fair reviews.
“You know when you’re struggling to write a meaningful introduction? When you can’t generate anything amusing out of a band’s name (Inhuman Architects) or anything insightful from their album title (Paradoxus), or anything significant from their home country which features a few bands of note but isn’t noted for its metal pedigree (Portugal)? When the artwork is the generic pink/purple/blue collage of death metal’s derivative genres? Or even comment on the fact that such album is their debut release, save for a solitary single? And you don’t even feel excited enough to tease (whether misleadingly or… leadingly?) that there’s something unique or exciting to describe? Yeah. I hate when that happens.” Brutalists.
