The Dillinger Escape Plan

Heavy Meta – Mana Regmata Review

By Dear Hollow on February 15, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Mathcore, Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, 29 comments

“Don’t get your hopes up, ye of heavy metal’s golden years. Heavy Meta is nearly everything you hate about today’s extreme music. Mathcore, black metal, noise rock, and prog all have a hand in this monstrosity, and if there is an inkling of distaste for any of these styles, Mana Regmata might need to come with a side of aspirin. Featuring a tongue-in-cheek moniker that you could proudly proclaim at any party, it’s a group that only jokingly defines itself as “blackened progressive cowboy nintendocore.”” Meta health.

So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing Review

By Dear Hollow on December 8, 2021 in Reviews, Mathcore, Post-Metal, 95 comments

“You can imagine why New York City’s So Hideous changed its name. Its former moniker, So Hideous, My Love, reflects the sort of melodrama pervades its first offering To Clasp a Fallen Wish with Broken Fingers. It ended up being post-rock/screamo Envy worship – if Envy were more emo. Thereafter, the masterminds behind the project, the Cruz brothers, dropped the second half of the name and amped up the ugly.” Ugly, pretty, hideous.

Pupil Slicer – Mirrors Review

By Dear Hollow on March 12, 2021 in Reviews, Ambient, Death Metal, Grind, Mathcore, Noise Rock, Post-Metal, 33 comments

“Pupil Slicer, although undeniably a trio, is vocalist/guitarist Davies’ brainchild through and through, seen in the guitar-and-vocals focus. Mirrors, following up an EP and a series of splits since their 2015 formation, combines its assets into a mathcore Frankenstein’s monster: twisted guitar work and frantic shrieks, Josh Andrews’ blasting drum tracks of an abandoned post-black project, and a healthy dose of Luke Fabian’s formidable bass and gutturals.” Eye on the prize.

Scarred – Scarred Review

By Kronos on January 18, 2021 in Reviews, 28 comments

“One of the more mystifying phenomena in the development in the metal scene is the emergence of “tech metal.” So far as I understand it, tech metal is a European scene and the bands therein are the aftermath of the total collapse in interest in djent in the rest of the world. Wisely, the Europeans rebranded, and even more wisely, they learned (though I believe “learnt” is also acceptable over there) to play something other than Meshuggah riffs. The results are… well, that’s the odd part.” Scar-core.

Melted Bodies – Enjoy Yourself [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By GardensTale on December 17, 2020 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, 46 comments

“In a year like this, there’s something to be said for going crazy. If you have multiple personality disorder, severe paranoia or schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations, you never have to feel alone while you’re locked in your apartment talking to the walls! Which is why Melted Bodies have the right idea.” Assorted nuts.

Azusa – Loop of Yesterdays Review

By Kronos on April 7, 2020 in 2020, Experimental Metal, Hardcore, Indie Recordings, International Metal, Reviews, Solid State, Thrash Metal, Hardcore, 10 comments

“Loop of Yesterdays enters with a burly thrash riff that gives way in seconds to a lull of shady jazz chords. Two minutes later, Azusa are playing both at once. The record’s dichotomous approach spawns many such treasures, oddities that are hardly surprising considering the source. An Extol/The Dillinger Escape Plan supergroup could hardly produce a pedestrian sound.” The future is fleeting.

The Motion Mosaic – Avant-Garbage Review

By Kronos on March 3, 2020 in 2020, American Metal, Hardcore, Mathcore, Metalcore, Reviews, Self-released, Hardcore, Mathcore, Metalcore, 15 comments

“The joke has been made. Or rather, as I am forever chastised by the Wordpress interface for the passive voice’s use, The Motion Mosaic made the joke. So did Huck when he checked in to make sure I was covering this. Never one to stop the momentum of a joke at my expense, I let him know I was way ahead of him. To know thyself truly is as hard as Steel or, in this case, hardcore, and it is the goal of The Motion Mosaic’s eclectic sophomore record.” Mathcore is hard.

$RED\\SHIFT – Grow.Decay.Transform. Review$

RED\\SHIFT – Grow.Decay.Transform. Review

By Carcharodon on February 28, 2020 in 2020, American Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Metalcore, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Sludge, Metalcore, Sludge, 34 comments

“There’s a statement in the promo blurb that a “catastrophically drunk dive-bar patron” once described Minnesotan trio RED\\SHIFT as being like “Mastodon mugging King Crimson in a back alley on New Year’s Eve.” There was also mention of wolves with swords for arms.” The right to arm wolves.

Shock Narcotic – I Have Seen The Future And It Doesn’t Work

By Dear Hollow on August 17, 2019 in American Metal, Grind, Housecore records, Uncategorized, Grind, Groove Metal, 7 comments

“I’ve been reviewing some long-ass albums lately. In the worship of Swallow the Sun’s Songs from the North I, II, & III, Bell Witch’s Mirror Reaper, or even Nightwish’s Endless Forms Most Beautiful, patient and epic songwriting takes precedence and the portrayal of endless and daunting landscapes in audio form rear their heads. It gets tiring. So I was like, “what the hell?” and went for grind. Shock Narcotic is a grind supergroup from Detroit, their debut album I Have Seen the Future And It Doesn’t Work released through Housecore Records.” Future shock.

Freighter – The Den Review

By Kronos on July 19, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Experimental Metal, Hardcore, Mathcore, Reviews, Self-released, Mathcore, 17 comments

“At some stage of sleeplessness, the pace of thought continues at speed while the fragmented hard drive of the mind reads straight across without regard for pointers or references. Ideas, memories, images, and anxieties flow without order or continuity through consciousness. It’s a state best approximated by mathcore, and mathcore is what Freighter approximate it with; The Den trades in the genre’s usual angst for a paranoid psychedelia to express this unique deprivation.” Not your dad’s metal.