Rejoice! The conclave of godly riffs has spoken. The smoke is blackened by blast beats and suffocating breakdowns. With this debut album, a new torchbearer of top-tier metalcore has ascended, and their reign begins with a bludgeoning instead of a blessing.
Roundhouse kicking the “metal” just as hard as the “core” back into metalcore, Your Spirit Dies is a band not messing around. Borrowing “throwback” elements from early 2000s metalcore, their debut delivers cohesive structure, raw hardcore authenticity, sufficient technical proficiency and emotional heft.
In fact, I'll go so far as to say this is the kind of relentless, prey-focused metalcore I’ll pick every day of the week, and maybe even twice on “breakdown day” (...Thursday, obviously). Hard-hitting metal riffs and piercing guitar play like they’re on sale at a two-dollar store. Machine-gun drumming that drops you smack in the middle of a MS-13 gang shootout. Scorching breakdowns that can crack open the Earth’s crust. Raw, emotionally charged vocals delivered with intense energy and dynamic range that cut through the mix like a jagged knife.
Next-to-no frills. No electronic effects. No farcical nu-metal nonsense. No off-brand detours. No sugar coated, pop-structured choruses. Zero, zip, zilch, nada.
My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest makes a surprisingly convincing case for worthwhile metalcore. Tracks like “In The Depths Of Grief” and “A Snow In Summer” are instant classics that, at a live show, might get you windmilled into another timezone if you’re not paying attention. It’s the blazing soundtrack to a moshpit-turned-warzone where one hundred roided-up, flat-brim-hatted dudes are trying to ninja-kick the crap out of one pissed-off silverback gorilla. And I’ll go even further. This debut album goes so hard, slams heavier than a speeding ticket on payday, and is so tight, even your neighbour's speakers will be lighting a cigarette when this is over.
You get the idea by now. Pretty sure this is what the Bible was warning us about.
So what’s your excuse for not listening to one of the best metalcore releases this side of the 2020s (well, except for maybe anything by Boundaries – who you should absolutely check out too while you’re at it)?
