“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.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I follow Michigan collective Of Virtue in the vain hopes they reclaim their former glory, and to express my disappointment whenever they fail to reach that. I get that it’s not fair to have low expectations, but as the saying goes, how the mighty have fallen. While they used to be aligned with a progressive edge and heart-wrenching melodic hardcore foundation not unlike Misery Signals or Counterparts, 2019’s What Defines You featured a sound that can only be defined by its devolution. What can we expect from Omen? Realistic expectations are a virtue.
“Hardcore is all about the message, and Bristol’s Svalbard lays its message with all the fury its members can muster. Largely considered controversial, awkward to some and powerful to others, the four-piece forgoes poetry for passion in some of the rawest and most in-your-face lyrical attacks.” Hard on the outside, soft on the inside.
“Don’t let anyone tell you different, metal is fun—well, except for all the times when it isn’t. But even when it is fun, many metal genres have a hard time achieving the same kind of raw joviality that their cousins in the punk space can. Good ol’ heavy metal and thrash make a good play—they share roots after all. But when it comes to yelling playfully in a mix with less of a regard for tonality and more of a focus on blasting a message out with volume as a guide, punk’s got an edge that’s hard to match. Kambodsja knows this, and they play the game well, slowly manipulating their exact style over the course of the past couple decades.” Be loud.
“Power. No, not power in the flamboyant nature of a curl-adorned Italian cosplayer wielding sword to fire-breathing dragon. Power. The fast-twitch response to anticipating joints bearing weighted-iron that engorges relaxed fibers with blood, with breath—this is where Harm’s Way lives. Straight-edge, hardcore, beatdown, just a few of the words that explain Chicago’s own and their method of compressed and concerted attack.” In gainz way.
“Rorcal’s approach to auditory darkness is nonetheless unmistakable, post-hardcore and post-metal coursing through every vein. Dissonant and ominous, tar-thick slogs of drone/sludge contrast mightily with raw wounds of blackened shreds with impeccable balance.” Silent but deadly.
“Here we are again strung upon KEN mode’s newest, fresh-faced outing, VOID—well, as fresh a face as these Canucks can muster. NULL’s intense and twisted Red Demon has fractured into a split visage of terrified sadness and caved-in confidence. Though KEN mode has little to fret over in the performance realm, the returning four-piece lineup boasting some of the most diverse and rich talents of the band’s career, a troubled mind, this demon state, does not find solace through notes of proficiency and creativity.” Face of things to come.
“I like metal to have an emotional heart to it. By this, I mean that, when I’m listening to a record, I want to feel that a band has poured some of itself into the music. Now, I get this is not for everyone and there is undoubtedly a place for straightforward riffs that one can just switch off and headbang to. That is not A Feast for Sorrow, the sophomore album from UK trio Urne, a band Metal Archives wholly inaccurately brands as “Stoner/Sludge Metal/Metalcore.”” Sorrow as fuel, pain as inspiration.
“Grant the Sun at surface appears as Norway’s newest metal jam band export, crossing ears with sounds that conjure the one-off twangy dream of Graviton or the chug-n-swell maestros Russian Circles. Reaching equally to a shoegaze fizzle (“Mariana,” “Vertigo”) and modern prog syncopation (“Machina,” “Hits like a Wave”), Grant the Sun brings many flavors to the table.” Panda Express.
“Unfurl adhere to the school of posts—post-grind, post-death, post-hardcore—that also gives us such bands as Full of Hell and Wake, and Ascension is their third full-length LP. Grindcore is the base of their sound, but these knotted compositions can suddenly swerve into sludgy doom trudges or ethereal clean flourishes on a dime. A handful of genres can be heard at any given time, but Ascension is really a tale of two albums.” Fly the flag of grind.
