New Music Report – May 7, 2021
*Note – This post is for music from 5/7, I was moving this past week and I haven’t had a chance to get this finished. I have the post for 5/14 finished and it will be going up tomorrow in an attempt to get back on schedule*
Once again, we’ve got a lot of cool new releases this week, unfortunately, I’m running late because I’m moving this week so things have been crazy, but the soundtrack to my packing has been wonderful. This was actually a really big week for heavy music in general. The past few weeks have been fairly diverse, this week is not haha, it’s pretty much nonstop heavy music. Including a bunch of post-metal singles, which is a very rare occurrence. Also, I feel like I have to mention this band every time they come up cause I’ve adopted them as my favorite unknown band and I need to spread the word, but Caskets (UK band, formerly Captives) just released a new single, so check that one out too.
Darko – This record is an absolute monster. I’ve basically had this album on repeat, and I almost can’t tell you why, to be honest. I know this sounds like just another deathcore band – I’ll be the first to admit they aren’t really breaking any boundaries here mixing deathcore and SciFi themes and samples. But what they’re doing is taking the creative impulses of two experienced and talented musicians from the metal scene – Tom Barber (Chelsea Grin, Lorna Shore) and Josh Miller (Emmure, Glass Cloud) – and letting them run free in a way they aren’t necessarily able to with their main projects. And that’s a really cool thing to experience, both as a musician and as a listener. And for being a relatively “new” band, this album sounds incredibly well developed. I initially sort of wrote this project off assuming it would be another half-baked side project, but in reality, this is a fun listen that just happens to go pretty hard.
Ghost Iris – It’s also one of those albums that feels wholly diverse. It has heavy moments, melodic moments, clean vocals, deathcore breakdowns, ambient textures, etc. It’s incredibly thorough and well composed. But mostly, man, is it heavy. Just everything you’d want in a deathcore album and so much more. Over their past couple of releases, Ghost Iris have really grown into something special, moving past “just regular ol’ djent” into a band with some substance behind the technicality. I’m such a sucker for this sound. It pulls really heavily on that Erra, Periphery, (old) Architects, etc. style of progressive metalcore that mixes heaviness with some really captivating melodies and more accessible moments that give a reprieve from endless breakdowns and guitar twiddling. And these guys have really managed to strike up the perfect balance between the two and managed to come up with a very special album.
Convictions – Wow, I was not ready for this EP. This album makes you feel things. Now, I know music does that, but I’m not ashamed to admit that a lot of genres of metal, especially stuff like metalcore and djent can get fairly formulaic, and it sort of takes a lot of the emotion out of it. This is not one of those albums. This an intense, burning, painful album, and it’s just an incredible experience. Now, musically, it’s fantastic. It’s everything metalcore should hope to be. It’s diverse, it’s heavy, melodic, it’s got everything, this is a very genuinely talented band, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where they take this style. But I feel like it’s also well worth going deeper than this. This album is not meant to make you feel good. In fact, it does the exact opposite with ruthless efficiency, dealing with suicide, addiction, PTSD, cancer, you name. This album is rough, you really have to be in the right headspace for this, but man, is the struggle worth it.
Singles/Albums – Bossk (Post-Metal), Amenra (Post-Metal), Year of No Light (Post-Metal), Osiah (LP, Deathcore), Ov Sulfur (Deathcore), Caskets (formerly Captives, Post-Hardcore), VOLA (Chill Djent?), Our Eternity (members of Fit for A King/Currents), Light the Torch (Metalcore), Health/Nine Inch Nails (Industrial), If I Were You (Post-Hardcore), Andrew WK (Party Music), August Burns Red (Leveler remaster with Misha from Periphery), Ice Nine Kills (Metalcore), Modest Mouse (Indie), Marissa Nadler (Dark Folk)