New Music Report – January 14, 2022
Welcome to the first new music post of 2022! I know I said I was going to rethink these, but I do really enjoy them, so I’m going to keep them going. I’m just going to shorten them up a bit. My old reviews were about 12 lines each, I’m going to try to keep these short and sweet and keep them under 5, that should make it a lot more manageable. And let’s be honest, we’re mostly here for the playlist. Anyway, today is deathcore day. Underoath also put out an album and that’s really cool, but I’m going to focus on the four HUGE deathcore releases this week.
Fit For an Autopsy – These guys are my favorite band out of the bunch that released albums today. They managed to combine so many different elements from metal into their sound, and it really forces you to look at deathcore from a new perspective, there’s bits of metalcore, apparently mathcore now, some thrash, death metal, etc, and it’s all put together brilliantly cause Will Putney is a genius. This album is more of the same, not quite as melodic as their last album, and maybe not their best, but still very consistently good.
Shadow of Intent – Chris Wiseman, the primary songwriter of Shadow of Intent, is also the genius behind Currents, so I’ve always loved this band. That dude is just an incredible songwriter. And the cool thing about this album, is you can start to see the lines between the two projects blurring just a little bit, while still maintaining their own identity. It’s much more varied and diverse than I was expecting, which is good since it’s such a long album. I was really, really impressed with this one.
Worm Shepherd – I didn’t know much about this band before this weekend. . I had heard a couple singles and I knew they played blackened deathcore which has become a quite popular subgenre lately, and that’s about it. But these guys are filthy. It’s some of the darkest, heaviest blackened deathcore out there, and – I am not exaggerating when I say this – features the fastest double bass section I’ve ever heard. This album is by far the darkest out of the bunch, and quite possibly the heaviest.
Enterprise Earth – I was honestly expecting to like this album the least, and while none of them disappointed, this one blew me away. Maybe it’s because it’s the one that exceeded my expectations the most, but holy hell, this is amazing. First off, it’s very hard to make a 1+ hour deathcore album that isn’t boring, but with a diverse mix of songwriting, just the right amount of clean vocals, breakdowns, etc. Enterprise Earth absolutely nailed this one. This will likely end up on my AOTY list, which is a bold statement two weeks into the year.
Singles/Albums – Vein.fm (Hardcore), Loathe (Deftonescore), Underoath (LP, Post-Hardcore/Nu-Metalcore), Bonobo (LP, Downtempo), Toundra (LP, Post Rock), Burial (EP, Ambient), A Wilhelm Scream (Punk), Dark Funeral (Black Metal), Darko (Deathcore), Landmvrks (Metalcore), As Within, So Without (LP, Metalcore), Venom Prison (Death Metal), Cult of Luna (Post-Metal), Circa Surivive (Post Hardcore), Mono (Post-Rock)