The visceral screamo scene which catapulted bands like Gospel and Jeromes Dream to cult status is experiencing a renaissance in the modern day with bands like Death Goals leading the charge for this ferocious new wave of screamo, but do Cainhurst join them?
Lyrically navigating personal experiences with identity through the most ferocious means, Cainhurst‘s new EP A Sacrifice sets fire to and purges all preconceived notions on who a person is meant to be, cutting the throat of masters and shattering the chains holding them from their true selves. It begins like the spawn of Dillinger Escape Plan with mechanical math chaos in ‘Scars From The Entry Wound’ before the desperate and lethal vocals of Ewan Benwell pick up the song like a bird of pray picking the bones clean of any signs of life which only lets up to catch a breath.
Moving like the Gospel frantic classic ‘The Moon is a Dead World’ with the crushing weight of ‘Document 8’ by PG.99 the torso of the record is stricken with panicked instrumentals and relentless breathy screams. This is begging to be celebrated in the fervent festivals of Europe and beyond where the crowds of outsiders will hold this dear to the heart. They hold all the hallmarks of brutally devoted screamo with really tasteful and naturally weaved in threads of subtle post-rock and hardcore to create something with much individuality to build on.
A break for calm and collection with rare singing which is kept quiet until the end which makes its impact hold so much more meaning when it arrives. It’s the clearest sign of their development yet as this injection of melody through highlight “Wrest Me From The Jaws Of Heaven” is another layer pulled back on an already vulnerable display. To strip back all angst and leave it bare gives a listener a chance to soak everything which has come before. It builds beautifully to take flight into tortuous post-rock/screamo confession, screaming at the sky with enough sharpness to leave wounds.
Cainhurst are destined to be beacons of feral hope within screamo, pulling raw catharsis straight from the flesh with both fresh and familiar foundations. Having already graced Radio One via Alyx Holcombe there are eyes and ears a plenty awaiting Cainhurst‘s next move and like all great screamo releases the run time is short which will only serve to increase the rabid appetite. Be sure to catch them on their headline tour this September with Lugosi and experience the violence first hand.