With a name that matches their sound better than most, Underdark are treading the same roads as Svalbard, Deafheaven, Dawn Ray’d and more as they keen mournfully into the void. The Midlands group have pulled no punches on their Church Road Records debut and have created a concept album that is, according to vocalist Abi, focussed on ‘the long term effects of Thatcherite neoliberalism and the slow-burning disaster they’ve caused for people’. Managed Decline alternately burns with the anger felt by every member of the band at the way the Midlands has slowly fallen apart and weeps for the people affected by all this, in a protest against all the band hate.
Underdark open the record with a short atmospheric piece titled ‘The Past We Inherit, The Future We Build (28th February 1972)’ before breaking into howls, shrieks and wails on the first of two titular tracks – ‘Managed Decline I (1st April 1988)’. The song is their to set the scene and also provide a mood, which it does instantly. Being drawn into the soulsucking, destitute world that has been created is almost too much, but the energy it takes to push through makes the experience so rewarding. As the first proper song, and longest on the album at nine minutes, it’s an intimidating start to an LP but by varying between seething harshness and melancholic softness the song works its way under the skin and will stay there for far longer than expected.
After announcing their return in 2022 with two crushing singles ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Clarity’ alongside performances at That’s What You Get Festival and an appearance at Throwfest, Welsh metalcore quartet Continents are back and they’re better than ever with their new EP LIFELINE. Ten years on from their iconic debut album Idle Hands, the band have entered a new era with a decade’s worth of life experience and musical development.
The main theme of the EP is about being given another shot at life after failing suicide, as well as not letting the sadness and intrusive thoughts win. Embedded in the EP’s artwork is symbolism that ranges from social anxiety, hope, masking, gaslighting and being haunted by your past traumas. Mental health is at the core of this album, substantially dictating its lyrical themes, and Continents unleash all their pain and heartbreak in furious fashion.
Moving away from the more hardcore elements that were first utilised on their debut album, Continents have returned as a modern metalcore outfit fuelled with an impassioned rage. Their playing is much tighter, more technical and their performance is increasingly cohesive, whilst sonically it is reminiscent of bands such as While She Sleeps and Beartooth. Across the four tracks a decade’s worth of emotions flow out and many listening will feel a sense of catharsis with this EP.
Formed in 2018 as a method of coping with a traumatic near-death experience after Vocalist/Guitarist Haitao Yang was shot in the head in a carjacking gone wrong, Laang 冷 (“Cold”) have quickly established themselves as a force to reckoned with from the East Asian Black Metal scene. Releasing their debut album Hǎiyáng (海洋 Ocean) in 2019 and quickly following up with 2021’s Xīnténg (心疼 Misery/Distress) netting the band headline tours in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as a headline North American tour in 2022. New album Riluò (日落 Sunset) continues the bands journey exploring their internalised trauma recovery, specifically conceptually exploring the experience of dying. Producing elaborately crushing Melodic Black Metal; performed in Mandarin, as well as blended with additional orchestral alongside traditional Erhu and Guzheng instrumentation.
Album opener and lead single ‘Bàoyǔ 暴雨 (Rainstorm)’ gets straight to business. An unearthly howl from Yang gives way to the expected black metal staples of furious tremolo picking and blast beats, paired with the epic grandeur conjured by the orchestral synths and traditional instrumentation melodies. The riff that follows breaks from the black metal ferocity in favour of more of an approach somewhere between Melodeath and Metalcore. Immediately following is another single ‘Liúxuè de tàiyáng 流血的太陽 (Bleeding Sun)’, opening with a orchestral synths that would make Dimmu Borgir proud as well as a chorus with a massive dissonant melodic hook thrown in. There is a prominent backing vocal and Erhu melody that appears at points across the song, adding a memorable melodic hook that stays with the listener.
It’s safe to say Nadja have been around the block a few times, and whilst Fawn Limbs haven’t been around anywhere near as long, they have no doubt cemented themselves as a pioneer for technical metal taken to its absolute extreme. The caustic grinding walls of industrial sound and polyrhythms are played off against noisy ambient doom in this killer split record Vestigial Spectra. The product of remote file sharing during the height of the COVID pandemic, this is a veritable cornucopia of contrast and oxymoron. Where ambiance and noise meet claustrophobic growled vocals, this EP emerges like two converging tectonic plates.
Despite the fact both Nadja and Fawn Limbs are so different (although they have flown close to each other on their musical journeys) you wouldn’t notice because Vestigial Spectra’s songs blend seamlessly into each other indicating an attentive, harmonious writing process. You would be remiss to expect this great lumbering beast of an record to perhaps lose some impetus over the length and breadth of its aural tirade, perhaps even lose its way. However, the cohesiveness of the piece is one of its greatest strengths, as the soundscape effortlessly morphs from grindcore to doom metal, to ambient and noise and back again without ever skipping a beat, or a step.
Every now and then, a new band leaps seemingly out of nowhere, and hits the ground running in a miraculous display of musical brilliance and star power, rising to prominence and catching everyone completely off guard. FOXCULT have got all the makings of such a band; their debut EP THE INDIGO FAULT glimmers with fantastic production quality, stellar songwriting, and the kind of emotive outpour that is sure to nurture and instant connection with anyone who happens across this five track collection.
The grungy, distant strumming of guitar, the kicking drums that pick up the pace and lead the track in, ‘EMPTY SPACE’ charges full force into an immediate display of what this band is all about; emotive, atmospheric, passionately crafted post-hardcore, with huge hooks and staggeringly impressive vocals from Audrey Lane. Backdropped by crackly distortion, thumping drums and a mixture of both powerfully heavy and more delicate, ambient guitarwork, ‘EMPTY SPACE’ is about a strong a start to the EP as you could want, in that it feels like a complete revitalisation of post-hardcore, equal parts a love letter and a breath of fresh air to a style of music that, whilst not completely disappeared, has certainly fallen to the wayside in recent years when it comes to more widespread popularity.
Guitarist Ashley Carrera‘s self confessed favourite track from the release ‘CLIFFJUMPER’ continues to dish out a strong catharsis, and features easily the most striking close out on the entire EP, combining elements of shoegaze and progressive metal to build upon itself, up and up until it bursts into a truly magnificent flourish by the song’s end. This leads directly into the sharp exhale that initiates the high octane, aggressive tenacity of ‘SILICONE DREAM’, an unrelenting barrage of energy that gives way only when culminating in an ethereal chorus of gargantuan proportion, as if being addressed by some cosmic entity in the far reaches of space.
Steadily growing into an intriguing entity, Icantdie arrive with a sound containing the right amount of polish to grit. A third EP is a statement of a further developed sound, one that leads to a cliff edge to shout at the world what to expect. For their “darkest and most chaotic yet” Errors begins on a somber note, a single satisfying guitar and confessional vocals from vocalist/guitarist Kyle Smith gather intensity before leaping forward for a gut punch and an unexpected next move. Guitar work straight from The Big Dirty era playbook of Every Time I Die met with throaty screams reminiscent of our sorely missed Black Peaks, a band that continues to reflect throughout this EP.
Icantdie are intent on packing in as much as possible with no fat to trim and ‘Follower’ encapsulates this, with screams continuing the onslaught with some tasteful early 2000’s metalcore chugs to lead us into a gang vocal assisted passage where major inspiration Billy Talent is found. A stand out feature is the fluidity between sections, slow atmospheric build ups laced with roomy toms and sparse eerie guitars hit just as hard as the more devastating moments. Given each track barely makes it over 3 minutes its impressive how everything flows with urgency and precision.
