New Music Report – May 1, 2020
It’s officially been a week now, and I’ve had the new Dance Gavin Dance album on repeat nonstop, but thankfully, with every passing Friday, there is always a new reason to switch things up and try something new. Which is exactly why I make these posts in the first place really. And while we move away from the chaotic, silly post hardcore of Dance Gavin Dance, we get a diverse helping of dark, heavy, emotional music this week, but they all approach it in a very unique way, so there’s a little something for everyone here.
Umbra Vitae – This is the debut release from the death metal supergroup featuring Jake Bannon of Converge and members from The Red Chord, Job for a Cowboy, and Hatebreed. And it is JUST as brutal as it sounds. It harkens back to more old school Converge with much more apparently death metal tendencies; riddled with absolute chaos at all times and packing a nonstop emotive punch that is basically guaranteed by such a star studded lineup. There are so many occasions of supergroups falling short of expectations where the pieces are truly greater than the whole, but this is simply spectacular. This album is heavy, mean, and extremely satisfying death metal. It’s not going to redefine the genre, but this is definitely what you get when some of the best and brightest names in metal music get together to make something very, very heavy.
An Autumn for Crippled Children – It’s hard to pin these guys down, a lot of people call them post-black metal which I suppose is a suitable catch all for this type of sound, but they combine elements of shoegaze, darkwave, dreampop, laid over a foundation of black metal-esq structure and tones. And this album truly is a bit of an amalgamation of everything, and the result is pretty cool; the atmosphere is dark, brilliant, and dreamy – draped over the typical blast beats and coarse, shrieking vocals with an aggressive helping of reverb you’d expect with black metal. It’s an interesting journey, one that I really happened to like, I’ve always enjoyed this band. However, I feel like those that check it out because of the “black metal” label will be disappointed. But black metal purists are the worst anyway, so just enjoy yourself, and enjoy this really remarkable, diverse album.
Boston Manor – Honestly, at this point in Boston Manor’s career, I was expecting a shift away from their traditional sound to a more subdued “alt rock” sound like Neck Deep did (sorry Neck Deep fans), but this album was a really nice surprise. This may just be because it’s still shiny and new, but I’m already enjoying this more than their last album, which if I’m completely honest, didn’t really resonate with me all the well. This is another band that’s kinda hard to tie down with a genre, featuring some pounding rhythms and clear punk influences and now pushing some electronic experimentation. This feels like a real exploration of what the band is capable of, and personally, I really enjoyed the trip.
Killswitch Engage – Unfortunately, the average music listener doesn’t really have a very long attention span these days, but that is also precisely the reason why we have a surprise EP from Killswitch Engage. This EP is made up of B-sides leftover from the recording of Atonement. And for those that have listened to that album, they know exactly the caliber of music that made the cut. But whatever the reason may be that these were left on the chopping block, these are still spectacular songs in their own right. This EP is a charity release, with a name-your-price option with all proceeds being donated to the COVID-19 Disaster Relief Fund, so if you’re able to, definitely check this out and support a good cause.