With numerous live appearances beginning to hit radars over the country, Existentialist have used the qualities needed to follow a steady curve of progression since 2020 debut Prophet of Ignorance in a live setting. Their second album comes with label backing through Seek and Strike, comprising of nine tracks including a feature by none other than the Slam King Jason Evans, meaning at first glance there is clearly a step up between this and their debut release.
Opener ‘Shrouded in Darkness’ is an immediate drive into the upper echelons of the album and displays some of the highlights of the writing on offer. Atmosphere building is incredibly important in this subgenre and Existentialist display both awareness of this necessity and aptitude in its’ undertaking during this gargantuan seven-minute song. That said, the classic deathcore elements of the track certainly overshadow anything else – this band know how to write scathingly heavy music in a way that doesn’t grow tiresome. An almost industrially relentless ending to the track cascades into a hugely triumphant climax, before closing off the first chapter of ‘The Heretic’ – an impressive start.
For two decades now, Enter Shikari have been a band who thrive on action. Whether that is in the live setting where they have dominated through relentless touring (navigating their way through pubs, arenas and even festival headline slots), or in the studio where they have routinely dismantled and reassembled the blueprint of their own eclectic brand of sonics, action has always been central to the appeal and success of the St Albans standouts.
How then, would the band fare after the year and a half of complete inaction that followed the release of their last album, 2020’s ambitious and sprawling Nothing is True & Everything is Possible? The answer: an outstanding body of work that oozes positivity and progression and gives listeners continual opportunities to revel in the chaos and smile in the face of adversity.
Recorded and produced completely in-house on the South Coast of England using nothing but solar power, A Kiss For The Whole World’s release was preceded by a statement from frontman Rou Reynolds that the album would be an explosive ‘reconnection’ with who Enter Shikari is and the beginning of the bands ‘second act’. That second act opens in grandiose fashion, with the title track’s inspiring fanfare giving way as Reynolds initiates a release of supernova sized energy that twists and turns over three glorious minutes and, with the line ‘you’re still standing like a statue’, provides a playful Easter egg for their faithful followers. A ‘reconnection’ indeed.
The third full-length from the Watford emo starlings, Elysian Skies sees Lakes enliven their intricate sound with a sense of newfound assertiveness. Whereas their previous records – 2019’s Constance and 2021’s Start Again – were brilliant and haplessly charming records that saw the band establish their ensnaring take on emo in the key of American Football, TTNG, I Feel Fine and Bon Iver, they were records that felt somewhat, well, timid. Not in a fashion that could be understood as meek or ambivalent however. Instead, these wonderful albums felt modest and humble in a way most endearing.
The twinkling and therapeutic contents that bounded these records resonated a sense of delicate carefulness that sounded like they didn’t want to disrupt the status quo or alert their contemporaries. Whilst such a statement could be interpreted as a criticism, it’s not intended to be. In fact, it’s more of a compliment. In an age where many a fresh-faced act attempt to disrupt the order of their scene through forced arrogance and obnoxiousness, Lakes approach to pleasant songwriting was a welcome respite from the norm, and with this in mind, the post-rock allegory of Elysian Skies takes shape. With this record, Lakes bolster, flesh out and enlarge their quaint sound without losing any of the tender intricacy within their lovable craft.
Opening with the excellent ‘Real (are you listening?)’, the tone is set for the rest of this EP as it begins with a juddering riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on System Of A Down’s 1999 debut album (the first of many late 90s/early 00s influences the band offer up on this release). An amalgamation of fast paced, pounding riffs akin to Dark Days era Coal Chamber and aggressive, urgent vocals, Black Coast know how to write an earworm. Even this early on, bassist Jack Beardsall deserved a shout out for his rumbling bass tones. Clocking in at just under four minutes, the opening track flies by and, thanks in part to its particularly memorable chorus, things are off to a thrilling start.
Next up is the standout track ‘Chains’, which begins with a floating, mellow intro underpinned by squealing lead guitars before exploding into pure nu-metal goodness with a piercing shriek of ‘ALIVE’ from vocalist Charlie Hewitt. For the first time, the clear influence of Deftones can be heard on the verses of this track before Hewitt offers up a chorus vocal melody that is such an excellent mixture of being both beautiful and spectral; Chino Moreno himself would be proud of it.
When As Everything Unfolds announced themselves to the world with debut album Within Each Lies the Other, they’d already built a cult underground following with two EPs that drew on post-hardcore, injecting synths and a distinctly melodic slant that set them apart as a band with a bright future. The scene at large seizing on WELTO was unexpected by the band, and the album itself was robbed of a true chance to be performed for their new fans for over a year when it landed in 2021. Fast forward two years and the band’s profile has continued to rise steadily and they’re on the cusp of releasing Ultraviolet, their next chapter, one that takes the raw, open heart emotion of WELTO and injects it with even bigger choruses and a sense of hard-won triumph. It’s not a concept record per se, but the purple themes and title itself hint at an album that draws on vocalist Charlie Rolfe’s experience in photography and darkroom work, exposing the emotional growth the band have been through to ultraviolet light in order to bring the true picture into focus.
Opening with the rousing title track, there’s more than a hint of nu-metal influence in its record scratches and a bouncing riff; the band are unashamedly fans of the genre, drawing on it again on third track ‘Slow Down’, whose opening synths are pure Linkin Park. Neither of these moments undermine the band’s own sound they’ve developed; if anything, it proves that they’re more than capable of experimenting without losing sight of the song. It’s a bold choice to open with a song that might come across as a big change from WELTO, one that the band carry off without a hitch. First single ‘Felt Like Home’, described by the band as their festival banger, is exactly that; stomping drums, a chorus that demands (and gets) huge singalongs live, and the kind of towering hooks that sink in with ease, its only crime is to be over so quickly. Given the majority of the singles were released off the front half of the album, it’s refreshing to come across ‘Saint or Rogue’ fairly early, its snaking guitar lines contrasting against ‘Slow Down’ where the synths provided the core of the song.
Starting life as a series of songwriting foundations by Amenra, Oathbreaker and Living Gate guitarist Lennard Bossu during 2021, it became clear that these ideas wouldn’t quite fit in with traditional Amenra fair. Bossu gathered an eclectic mix of Belgian underground stalwarts to make up what would become Predatory Void. Recruiting fellow Amenra member Tim De Gieter (also of Doodseskader) on bass and backing vocals, Thijs De Cloedt (Cobra The Impaler, ex-Aborted) on additional guitars, Vincent Verstrepen (Carnation) on Drums and Lina R (Cross Bringer) as the lead vocalist, every member has a history of strong contributions to the Belgian scene. Incorporating a wide array of musical interests, from thick doom textures and shoegaze soundscapes to the unbridled aggression of Belgian hardcore, black and death metal, each member of Predatory Void contributed to the songwriting process and drew from a wide pool to craft something utterly unique over the span on seven tracks.
Surging to life with opening track ‘Grovel’, huge walls of sound erupt from the speakers as a monolithic doom riff open the song before quickly breaking into death metal shredding, ferocious blast beats, double kick and Lina’s cutting screamed vocals, Predatory Void immediately make an impression on the listener. Across the opening track, the band play with a wide variance of dynamics, intensities and textures, regularly breaking from the walls of sound and high intensity passages for wide open bridges with clean guitars and eerie soft sung vocals soaked in reverb, invoking feelings of the bands Esoteric and Disembowelment, with their approach of dissonant clean guitars over heavy riffs.
