Band:	Earth Crisis
Album:	Gomorrah's Season Ends
Style:	Hardcore, Metalcore
Release date:	1996
Guest review by:	Gothic Metalhead

01. Broken Foundation
02. Cease To Exist
03. Gomorrah's Season Ends
04. Constrict
05. Names Carved Into Granite
06. Situation Degenerates
07. Morality Dictates
08. Cling To The Edge
09. Forgiveness Denied

There is no other style I hate more than (or as much as) pop music other than metalcore. When I was in high school starting off listening to metal music like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Death Angel, metalcore was the bane of my high school years, or more particularly, the emo-looking bands like Bring Me The Horizon. However, that was 7-8 years ago; let's fast forward to today's review which is unorthodox considering my usual tastes.

The funny thing about Earth Crisis is that my music business professor/head of the music department recommended this band to me. While we were waiting for class to start, he played snippets from this album: Gomorrah's Season Ends. This wass coming from a musician whose main style of music is electronic and who actually grew up in the hardcore punk scene of Philadelphia; I was skeptical when he was gonna play music, but that skepticism turned to relief because this album is killer. When I came home to listen to the whole album, I found it was actually great and got hooked with this album, and the next time I had my music business class I said "Well... Just getting into that Earth Crisis."

One of the big reasons why I really like this album, in particular, is the way the band utilize their rhythm section and tempo changes. Rhythmically, this is a catchy album, with tempo build-ups and changes being a key part in the structure of the songs, especially when in unison with the breakdowns, almost as if it had those groove elements in the drums and the tempos. For an early metalcore album, this is still very hardcore-inspired. The tone of the guitars is pretty raw and has some crossover influence, except that it has darker riffs, especially with songs like "Names Carved Into Granite" where the guitars are accompanied by descending tempos. That unique darkness peaks with one of my favorites on the album, "Cling To The Edge", where the guitars echo courtesy of dark effects being utilized. For once the breakdowns were really welcomed on this album and are at their core the best I've heard from a metalcore album. Musically, this is an album that is killer from that perspective of metal. This is an album that doesn't worry about breakneck speed but instead focuses on hardcore punk heaviness and rhythm.

Let's talk about the vocals next. I usually don't like this kind of approach, but for an album like Gomorrah's Season Ends they are something I can definitely get behind. The constant barks and aggression heard on this album are not the best as I can barely understand what the vocalist is saying unless I read lyrics, but something about the vocals made me keep listening. That something was consistency. Throughout, the vocals are strong and don't even need to lighten up to make the album interesting; they add another catchy element whilst maintaining that incredibly aggressive sound.

Like some of the music, the lyrics are subject to crossover thrash/traditional thrash influences. Most of the album is all about nuclear warfare, poverty, corruption, and other far-left ideologies. Though the lyrics are inferior to the aforementioned thrash metal, most of the lyrics are thankfully not juvenile. These lyrics were written like they really mattered especially from such heavy hardcore music as is featured on this album. Trying to follow what the vocalist is singing throughout has been thought-provoking and it was definitely something I experienced in a positive light.

Prior to listening to Gomorrah's Season Ends, as I was getting older and was in college for music I was slowly tolerating metalcore even if it's one of my least favorite styles of metal. Now if there is a metalcore band I would recommend listening to it would either be Between The Buried And Me or Earth Crisis. What Earth Crisis did, and this album in particular did, was that it made me think that not all metalcore is the same, there are a few gems out there. Gomorrah's Season Ends was a great experience, and I can see why this band was so influential seeing how it brought hardcore punk to a more metal-oriented direction, influencing the likes of Killswitch Engage and Code Orange.

Thank you, Professor.