Photo Credit:
June 25, 2021| Will Marshall | RELEASE REVIEW
Beartooth – Below | Album Review
Beartooth. They’re a band that needs virtually no introduction; if you know the name, you know their heart-on-sleeve, anthemic metalcore sound.
Originally conceived of as a side project to mastermind Caleb Shomo’s main band at the time, Attack Attack!, it’s fair to say that by now, they’ve surpassed all expectations and gone from strength to strength with each record. Fourth album Below continues in the vein of its predecessors both thematically and sonically. It’s still a frank depiction of mental health and facing personal demons, blending hardcore riffing, frenzied screams and massive choruses.
The title track opens with a squall of feedback and rhythmic, pounding toms with Shomo’s trademark yell before erupting into a giant, arena-ready riff guaranteed to start pits the second it’s let loose on stage. It’s classic Beartooth through and through; there’s nothing here they haven’t done before but it’s also done incredibly well. It’s a great song and a strong opening gambit from the band.
Similarly, ‘Devastation’ rages into view, all punk snarl and stomp. Shomo’s vocals are as vicious as ever, switching between his renowned bark and soaring melodies at the drop of a hat. It follows the tried-and-tested formula for their sound and does it, again, very well. It’s in ‘Dominate’ that we’re thrown our first curveball as what sound suspiciously like a blastbeat sits under the frantic guitar work in parts, notably after the first chorus and in the closing moments of the song. While there’s no blackened elements themselves, it adds an even more chaotic urgency, lending an almost ramshackle feeling to the track.
Lyrically, we’re also in familiar territory, with honest depiction of mental health – ‘Skin’ is particularly powerful, with Shomo giving a brutally honest depiction of self-image in its arena-ready chorus with the lyrics “I’m so uncomfortable in the skin I’m in / The mirror’s telling me that I’ll never win / It’s so hard to know these days if anybody feels the same / I’d give anything, anything for some company, company”. This honesty is something that’s made him so relatable as a figurehead and musician; his unflinching honesty and openness in dealing with his demons has made Beartooth what they are today and garnered them one of the most dedicated fanbases in the scene.
It’s not a flawless record – even to pretend it is would be antithetical to the band themselves; the albums are about being open and honest about flaws, with all that it entails. That said, there is a self-editing problem; while songs themselves are aggressive and downright catchy, some don’t work quite as well as others. ‘Hell Of It’ has the riffs, but the chorus doesn’t quite reward the anticipation built in the verses, though there’s no doubt it’s anthemic and will absolutely go off live. Similarly, closer ‘The Last Riff’ seems to be an afterthought, an instrumental outro that is not only the longest song on the album, but also the least interesting, meandering without meaningful progression across its run time.
All that being said, Below is still a very good record, warts and all. The Beartooth formula is well-established by now. It’s tried, tested and while there’s tinkering here and there, there’s no need to overhaul it entirely; it works perfectly well as it is. Fans will love this, detractors won’t and that’s fine. Shomo’s often painfully honest lyrics, his knack for crafting anthemic songs and choruses, all of that is as strong as ever. It results in an album that’s a well-written, rewarding listen that does exactly what’s expected of it.
