Band:	Vein.fm
Album:	Errorzone
Style:	Metalcore, Nu metal
Release date:	June 22, 2018
A review by:	RaduP

01. Virus://Vibrance
02. Old Data In A Dead Machine
03. Rebirth Protocol
04. Broken Glass Complexion
05. Anesthesia
06. Demise Automation
07. Doomtech
08. Untitled
09. End Eternal
10. Errorzone
11. Quitting Infinity

If you told me five years ago that someone fused metalcore and nu metal, I likely would've been disgusted. Is the world ready for such a revival of once-hated genres? Is it a recipe for disaster or something we desperately needed back?

Vein.fm have been playing with fire, but their trump card is that instead of taking more inspiration from the less fortunate side of metalcore like Emmure or Bullet For My Valentine, they push more for chaotic metallic hardcore in the vein of (see what I did there??) Botch, Orchid (USA-MA), or early Converge. The final result is still distinguishable from its hardcore origins through its bassy Korn emulations and its Slipknot-ish choruses. Add a few nods to industrial metal by adding some breakbeats and the recipe is ready.

Errorzone is 27 minutes of nostalgia filtered through modern experimentation, or the other way around. Nevertheless, the album takes the best of both worlds, turning teenage anger into a vitriolic maelstrom. Vein.fm manage to take a dive into nostalgia but not be limited by it. Despite taking sounds that are almost exclusively grounded in the past, Errorzone doesn't feel excessively generic. Sure, some moments (the chorus of the title track) may be leaning a bit too much into the no-go zone, but a great deal of the album does almost detach you from remembering the absolutely terrible stuff circulating back in the day by washing the memories by frontloading its best qualities.

The album rarely takes a moment to breathe, which isn't much of an issue due to its length and also due to it alternating between chuggy breakdowns and spastic, mathcore-ish chaos. The throat-ruining screams on this thing are every now and then alternated with either gang vocals drenched in effects or clean vocals. Vein.fm still sound at their best during the tracks where experimentation is more obvious, like the opening track.

If you still feel like I did five years ago, Errorzone won't win you over, but they showcase a lot of the qualities of the genres-that-are-not-to-be-named-on-a-metal-site and their slight experimental tendencies could mean a lot of potential to grow beyond their anachronism. Take a trip on memory lane.