Bong-Ra – Black Noise Review

By Thus Spoke

When I reviewed Bong-Ra’s last album, Meditations, I commented on the about-turn the project made moving into doom. I should have known that the individual behind Bong-Ra, Jason Köhnen, likes to keep the listener guessing. So it is that Black Noise, their ninth official full-length, sees yet another mutation. In a whiplash change, Meditations’ successor is not dreamy, sax-infused, instrumental doom, but uncanny blackened, industrial, electronic metal; synthetic elements are used now to splice in unsettling samples and twist the guitar sound rather than dominate the melodies. The breakcore of yesteryears is back but bent to the whims of the metallic. If last time around, I intimated a desire to partake in whatever mind-altering substances Bong-Ra’s music lent itself to, this time, I’m not so sure. Not because Black Noise isn’t good, but because it is perturbing in the kind of way that doesn’t mix well with intoxication.

Black Noise takes its name from the conceptual opposite of white noise.1 That is, rather than an equal distribution of audible frequencies, a jarring disparity and unevenness in tone, pitch, and frequency. The music is not nearly as inaccessible as that implies. Though the sensibilities of extreme metal can be found in its densest polyrhythms (“Dystopic”) and heaviest guitar and harsh vocal assaults (“Black Rainbow”), Bong-Ra maintains at least the semblance of groove, and the heavily muted tone of the electronically distorted riffs keeps them from being the brutal battering rams they might be if employed under a less cloaked master (“Death #2,” “Nothing Virus,” “Ruins”). This being said, Black Noise’s idiosyncratic merging of real and synthetic instrumentation; of the straightforward aggression of the metal elements and the no less unfriendly electronic ones remains oblique and challenging to all but the .1% of the music-listening population that haunts these quiet corners of the internet. Imagine a snappier, heavier Perturbator in vibe, with a sprinkling of Dødheimsgard audacity, and deathened vocals whose referent is harder to place. It’s an effectively alien experience and a disturbing one to boot.

The contents of Black Noise are about as weird and creepy as its cover art. Bong-Ra’s melodic themes are sparse and tend towards the dissonant and eerie, which maintains a constant unease. Köhnen affects a blunt annunciation that tends towards the callous when performing spoken word (“Death #2,” “Parasites”), and which remains just as articulate and dry as he slides into growls (“Dystopic,” “Nothing Virus”) giving the words a chilling inhumanity. The breakcore influence of clattering, tapping, metallic clanging, jangling, and whirring scattered across tracks makes everything that much more discomfiting (especially: “Dystopic,” “Useless Eaters,” “Bloodclot”). Samples—the most lengthy being that of Charles Manson defending his ‘philosophy’ which dominates “Useless Eaters”—bring the vague horror, and nihilistic mean-spiritedness haunting the compositions to the fore. And yet, Black Noise is surprisingly easy to listen to, in spite of its strangeness, in a strangely involuntary way. Bong-Ra execute polarised sides of the album’s sound with equal conviction and ease, and in all cases, perpetuate the same dark ambient aura. As a result, on paper odd inter-song neighbors, or intra-song bedmates convince the listener of their necessity without issue, and interplay becomes that much more compelling. A stomping industrial metal (“Death #2,” “Ruins”) or techno (“Useless Eaters”) groove; the warm buzzing of tremolos (“Dystopic,” “Blissful Ignorance”); the skittering and sharp breakcore (“Parasites”), and the complementarily soft blankets of noise (“Bloodclot”). The chaos of all the above just melts together into one self-consistent fever dream.

Black Noise effectively communicates dysphoria and anxiety, and its hybrid electronica-metal is satisfyingly menacing, and at times, plain cool. But there’s the insidious sensation, dampened only slightly by this slickness, that it lacks some definitive quality that would make its communications legitimately confrontational. Some decisive pizzazz or inexorability which would silence the thought of “so what?” does appear in the face of Black Noise’s noisy articulations. Exacerbating this is the fact that the record also begins to peter out in its second half, the sinister instrumental “Bloodclot” representing the turning point. Only the novelty and decidedly dark aura of these compositions keep their listener hooked just enough to follow their trajectory.

Once the surprise and intrigue of Bong-Ra’s new direction has settled, Black Noise has much to offer its acolytes. Though lacking the sticking power and ultimacy of the truly affecting, there is no denying its uniqueness and style. Reflecting sufficient existential affliction to get under your skin for at least a moment, and packing some stylish fusions of variously dense musical flavors, Black Noise is worth experiencing.

Rating: Good
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Debemur Morti Records
Websites: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: February 21st, 2024

#2025 #30 #BlackNoise #BongRa #Breakcore #DebemurMorti #DutchMetal #ElectronicMetal #ExperimentalMetal #Feb25 #Industrial #IndustrialMetal #Noise #Perturbator #Review #Reviews

Elyose – Évidence Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Being true to yourself as a listener is an essential part of the reviewing process. So, at a very base level, I can say things like “I’m tired of hearing djent riffs” and “pop-infused metal doesn’t do anything for me.” And, at my core, I can know those things are true. Except, every now and again, well-crafted music comes along and bashes upon our truths like a coup de foudre to an unsuspecting heart. Such was the case when I encountered Elyose’s hook-laden, djentrified y2k platter of Déviante. And so too am I again smitten with the chug-ridden, cybergoth stylings of Évidence. The proof, as they say, is in the purple pudding.

Though incepted as a fuller band effort with the heart of an electronically urgent, less symphonic Nightwish or Epica, Elyose now falls under the primary care of vocalist and composer Justine Daaé. With collaborative assistance from djent veteran Anthony Chognard (ex-Smash Hit Combo), Elyose has shifted from pop heavy metal-rooted hop to a sound more Kemper-fied and modern. But unlike other popular female-voiced acts who sport a melodic focus around extended range rhythms, like Spiritbox or Poppy, Daaé sticks to the power of her full and trained clean timbre, finding vocal play in lush harmonies and playful percussive runs.1 Maintaining Évidence in almost entirely her native French tongue, Daaé brings both an earnestness and extra depth of pronunciation expression to each passing phrase.2 Though Évidence has an undeniable musical catchiness and air of accessibility, its bones remain too personal in aim and adoration for an industrial/alternative past, and too metal in dramatic spirit, to land neatly in a pop lane.

Despite the layers that Daaé peppers into triumphant choruses and textured verse articulations, Chognard maintains a workmanlike framing with riff accompaniment to build rhythmic tension around hypnotic synth lines. On the most electronic leading tracks, Elyose’s warbling hooks grow from subdued fluctuations to whirring guitar squeals to strobe-blaring crescendo with a cinematic scope and effortless swagger (“Mission Lunaire,” “Théogyne 2.0”). And in a manner reminiscent of the smart and slamming groove from the most successful VOLA works, Chognard weaves jagged thumps alongside powerful, character-driven vocal tethers to sink Évidence’s teeth even deeper into the urge to hit the replay button (“Ascension Tracée,” “Immuable,” “Abnégation”). Out of context, bits and pieces of the modern guitar work can feel like patchwork memories from a mind informed by ’10s djent memories, but in context it maintains a careful balance with Daaé’s unique presence.

That familiarity of riffcraft does hold Elyose from striking harder throughout parts of Évidence, though. It’s less the note-for-note déjà vu of a nasally amp-simulated tapping run or a seven-string Periphery preset note crushing than it is the overall flatness of guitar production that takes away some of the mystique that classic crunchy layer can offer. Again, many of these clips that offend in this way serve as short segues or setups for Daaé to mark with greater lasting power the peaks of each composition. And a few licks that warp and chime alongside intense bridges hold a particularly nostalgic resplendence in their carry (“Étoile Solitaire,” “Ascension Tracée”). But for a couple of tracks that follow patterns on a similar path (namely “Tentatives Échouées” and “Prête au Combat”), the escalating flow that pervades through Évidence can lose its way.

Not all pleasures in life have to be complicated, yet it would be disingenuous to call Évidence simple. While the formula for Évidence hasn’t changed much from Déviante, Elyose continues to perform with an idiosyncratic style rooted in detailed, memorable mic work and addictive, groovy instrumental backing that is hard to put down. There’s no secret to Elyose’s success—every song shoves an undeniable chorus through the trials of verses and bridges and reprisals that fall exactly where they should. But Évidence powers through the complacency of chorus worship with a voice determined to soar. The only feeling that could make the joy of Elyose’s music more rewarding is perseverance, a feeling which Évidence embodies with a glitching and gliding charisma and a catharsis-clenched fist held high.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: PCM3
Label: Self Release
Websites: elyosemusic.com | facebook.com/elyoseofficial
Releases Worldwide: January 10th, 2025

#2025 #35 #AlternativeRock #Djent #ElectronicMetal #Electronica #Elyose #Évidence #FrenchMetal #GothicMetal #IndependentRelease #Jan25 #Reliqa #SelfRelease #VOLA

Master Boot Record – Hardwarez Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Anno Domini 2024. In the early months, the code-whisperer Victor Love donned his Omnissiah robes and preached the score-counter-ruining sermon Nel Nome Del Codice within the Keygen Church. Now, the world’s premier practitioner of digital blasphemy has returned in his true, glorious form: Master Boot Record. There is no digi-christ here, only The Code. MBR is poised to release update 11.0 to your pathetic operating systems. Update name: Hardwarez. This is not the beginning; MBR has long since invaded the AMG website, one virus in particular bestowing 2022’s Personal Computer the title of Record o’ the Month. No, this is not the beginning… but this will be the end. Hardwarez will not suffer your computer to survive.

The phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to few artists quite so well as MBR. For any newcomers or rubberneckers, MBR is, to put it lightly, a mix of Dragonforce-adjacent energetic riffage, the classical-minded bombast of Johann Sebastian Bach, and a chiptune videogame soundtrack. The metal is fully synthesized with programmed drums, floppy drive synth riffs, and lightning-quick keyboards. This is how it’s been for ten albums over the last eight years and how it’ll be in the future. If that sounds dismissive, it shouldn’t; MBR’s is a wholly unique sound that works extraordinarily well. However, a man cannot, or perhaps should not, be so prolific in releasing music without even surface-level changes between albums. Love has refined and then maintained the MBR sound across nearly a dozen albums, while progressively updating and experimenting with his songwriting approach, be it through epic, 15+ minute song lengths (C:/DEFRAG), adding a vocalist (Direct Memory Access), or even donning the occasional baroque harpsichord (Personal Computer). This naturally begs the question as to how Hardwarez might aim to differentiate itself…

…which it does by being heavy. Stupidly, obscenely, disgustingly heavy at times. I even spun the full MBR discography to be sure, and while a few parts in Personal Computer come close, one could confidently say that Hardwarez is some of MBR’s heaviest material to date, and it’s a blast. Opener “BIOS” boots up Hardwarez with thrashy riffs and fast soloing, while the following “MOBO” builds towards colossal, Bach-iavellian refrains full of classical grandeur. And then, “CPU” drops a riff-heavy enough to brick my computer and is a seriously strong contender for my Song o’ the Year. The heaviest songs hit all the harder because of how they’re placed within the album. Hardwarez is a masterclass in pacing, creating clear peaks and valleys spread across the 42-minute runtime. “RAM” is a joyous, 80’s-infused slab of riffs and hyperactive solos that fits snugly between the less intense “GPU” and the slick, powerful “FDD,” with the latter’s extended synth-y outro escalating beautifully into the immediately massive “HDD.” Excellent pacing like this makes it nigh impossible to grow bored, and when the album is over, you’ll already feel ready to spin it again.

In the wake of Hardwarez strongest moments, it’s easy to ruminate over nebulous missed opportunities. While MBR has historically leaned into progressive songwriting, Hardwarez is much more direct; “CASE” being the most obvious, um, case. It ends Hardwarez on a high note and features one of the best, and heaviest, riffs, but it follows a strictly repetitive ABAB structure. Compared to the more adventurously composed “RAM” and “FDD” that augment their strongest moments with build-ups and varied structure, “CASE” begins to frustrate. I want to return for the whole experience of a song, not just one (admittedly stellar) riff. Hardwarez heaviness is its strongest aspect, and, I believe, would be all the stronger were it entreated with bolder songwriting, which Love has proven ad nauseam that he is capable of. Still, this might be unfair. Hardwarez is tight as hell, extremely consistent, and endlessly replayable. It’s a clear success, and worth celebrating—but it’s Love’s own fault for proving that he can do even better.

Beyond that, “PSU” is a slight let-down with some melodically cluttered sections, but its worst sin is being surrounded by excellence, and that’s what Hardwarez provides in spades. It might not break the score counter like Keygen Church’s Nel Nome Del Codice on account of being less groundbreaking and challenging in its scope, but Hardwarez is nevertheless another essential MBR release to add to the growing pile. It’s as energetic and intoxicating as ever, and has shown that this heavier iteration of MBR is one of its best and deserves to be explored even furtheERROR—ERROR—ERROR—ERRORRRRRRRRRR

PAGE_FAULT_DEUS_TE_DERELIQUIT

*** STOP: 0x000000D666 (0x0000000M, 0x0000000B, 0x0000000R, 0xDSBYOE)

*** strt1.sys – Address DSBYOE base at 387440×9, DateStamp na1833nms

Beginning dump of physical memory

Physical memory dump incomplete
incomplete
incomplete

There is nobody to contact for further assistance

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C:\Users\vittorio>shutdown /r

–
–
-restart completERROR—ERROR———ERRORRRRRRR

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Rating: Very Good!!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: facebook | bandcamp | official
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

#2024 #35 #DragonForce #ElectronicMetal #Hardwarez #IndustrialMetal #ItalianMetal #KeygenChurch #MasterBootRecord #MetalBladeRecords #NelNomeDelCodice #Oct24 #PersonalComputer #Synthwave

Moiii – Moiii Review

By Thus Spoke

True genius, especially in art, is often not recognized when it first emerges. Van Gogh barely made a penny and garnered little acclaim for paintings that people now travel the world to see. Art may be subjective, but an entirely new world of debate arises when something comes along for which there are very few, if any, analogues. With this in mind, let us turn to Moiii, and their self-titled debut. It’s the fusion of musical minds hardcore and rock-centric—Scott Shellhamer (American Heritage, Ghosts and Vodka)—and electronica, pop, and folk-inclined—Jason Butler1 (Thee Conductor)—plus an additional healthy helping of aggressive noise rock—Thor Harris (Swans) performs percussion. On paper, there’s nothing spectacularly strange about combining the above genres; plenty of electronic music is somewhat dissonant, noisy, and dense, whilst also being kind of danceable, and catchy. But whatever you’re imagining, it almost certainly doesn’t come close to Moiii.

Moiii is quite simply baffling. You don’t know whether to reserve judgment until you feel like you understand it—perhaps accepting you never will—or heap scorn over its fickle irreverence and jarring bizarreness. Each track feels like an experiment, almost a jam apart from the fact it’s been well-mixed and mastered. Common quirks shared between them—flickering, bassy static (“Turtle Legs,” “Scarab of Ra”), pervasive waves of noise (“Tangled Chords,” “Motion Picture”), and a penchant for dissonant combinations of all kinds of sound, as well as generally slow-to-medium tempos—help provide some coherence, but that’s where it ends. Don’t expect closure, catharsis, or completeness in these compositions. Moiii are intent on subverting your expectations in this respect—or at least, they seem to be—as they use individual pieces as microcosms for genre subversion, maintaining their states without evolution, abandoning them, or perhaps even following them through in an expected fashion, just as a little surprise.

As strange as it is, Moiii can be quite charming. I didn’t know I wanted to hear xylophonic chords being played alongside foghorns and sludgy riffs (“Tangled Chords”), but it was great. I also didn’t know how brilliant a groove could be achieved through intense, rhythmic breathing and steel drumming so sharp and tinny it sounds like it’s being played on a set of saucepans (“You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It”). Nor did I expect to be so viscerally affected by the humming, clicking, stalking, and whatever else is going on in “Motion Picture.” Though generally averse to utilizing the pretty side of electronica, in favor of that which makes you feel slightly ill in its constantly crescendoing, dissonant lurchiness (“Turtle Legs,” “Motion Picture”), Moiii make another play out of left field with the suddenly pleasant “Shhhhhhhhhhhhh”2 which begins in something akin to synthy shoegaze, played drunk, and eventually transforms into more-or-less straightforward sludge. Moiii create some surprisingly cool sequences with interspersions of bass feedback, guitar, and bubbly, fluttering synths (“Turtle Legs,” “Scarab of Ra”), and injections of wonky rhythm (“Tangled Chords,” “You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It”). And with a runtime that barely scrapes past half an hour, the record works a fun little mini-trip, the perfect length of time needed to indulge your weird side before returning to back-to-back replays of Ulcerate (or whatever else you people are listening to).

And yet, Moiii leaves me very conflicted. While there’s plenty to enjoy, at least in snippets, it’s hard not to see the offerings as unfinished drafts, as though each was a idea sketched out but never filled in. With the exception of “You Wont Be Alive To Feel It,” songs barely maintain enough momentum, enough dynamism to keep you truly invested, which is a shame considering the obvious talent and genuinely interesting fusions on display. “Motion Picture” has bags of potential hidden in its near-cinematic crescendoes of synth and spine-tingling ascending plucks, but Moiii refuse to develop it, and its eight-and-a-half-minutes begin to drag. Overall, the character of the album leaves it in the awkward position of being too odd and too jarring to comfortably act as background music, but not compelling enough to adequately occupy your attention all the way through.

But is Moiii perhaps a genius I fail to recognize? While it’s impossible to say, my gut tells me no. It’s clever when it needs to be, but possibly too clever for its own good, sacrificing substance for an over-commitment to kooky style. If Moiii make more music in future, it’ll be worth checking out, but for now, judge for yourself how far your curiosity can take your taste. You may even find you love it.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Someoddpilot Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 2nd, 2024

#25 #2024 #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #ElectronicMetal #Electronica #ExperimentalMetal #Industrial #Moiii #Noise #Review #Reviews #SomeoddpilotRecords

Soulbound – obsYdian Review

By Kenstrosity

Long time readers understand that I like damn near any kind of metal. If it’s got heavily distorted guitars and big, bloodied hooks, I’m on board. My eclecticism inside the metalverse affords me a rare kind of versatility when it comes to review duties, too. Anything that falls into my lap has a chance to get a proper sponge bath. However, sometimes a band does a bunch of stuff that I normally enjoy and yet, my enthusiasm falters. Most of the time, that’s a simple conflict. I just don’t like the songs, even if I like the format. That, dear readers, is precisely the case for German “wedon’tgiveafuckmetal”1 outfit Soulbound and their fourth LP, obsYdian.

Does anybody remember Powerman 5000? I do. They had some straight-up bangers in their time, like “When Worlds Collide” and “Bombshell.” Sadly, their legacy is one of pure novelty and nostalgia. Undeterred by such circumstances, Soulbound cut their sound from the same cloth, interweaving pop metal elements reminiscent of Amaranthe; creepy gothic industrial rock similar to some of Marilyn Manson’s work; and stompy riffs and a genuinely vicious scream pulled straight from the Static-X playbook. With obsYdian, Soulbound integrated a new, updated thread of synthwave influence into their Eurovision-ready bops, which happens to be a major draw for this reviewer in 2024. And yet, obsYdian still grinds my gears.

Frustration floods my system every time I spin obsYdian. From the start of its overlong instrumental intro to a bizarre two-part closer, Soulbound make questionable choices that keep me listening almost entirely out of morbid curiosity. Starting off with a powerful dose of cringe, opener “Burn” serenades my inner angsty teen with shouts of “BURN, MOTHERFUCKER” against a backdrop of base chuggery. In fact, “motherfucker” features an egregious number of times for a band claiming to give no fucks to begin with. Other missteps include “Lioness,” which I hypothesize speaks on struggling with mental illness, heartbreak, or uncontrolled drug use. Any one of those holds potential for a great theme, but “Lioness” kicks off on a confusing note—a howling wolf—and further befuddles with chorus lyrics that muddle the message beyond easy deduction. Outside of those memorably unfortunate moments in the first half, the bulk of obsYdian fails to make any impression one way or the other. Inoffensive tracks like “Insane” and “Isolate” fight hard for my attention with superficially hooky licks and aggressive bounce. Yet, I remain wholly unmoved. Finally, I reach a real head-scratcher with obsYdian’s bewildering closing duo. “Remain (Part 1),” an ill-fated, three-minute, sappy sadboi ballad, wasn’t the best choice for a late album tuck-in to start with, but Soulbound paired it with a truly puzzling consort: “Remain (Part 2).” After “(Part 1)” ends, “(Part 2)” reprises the main theme of “(Part 1),” at half-time, with orchestral bombast, ad nauseam for a whopping seven minutes of mind-numbing buzzkillery. What the hell is even that?

In all fairness, Soulbound do know their way around a sharp hook once they find one. Top selections like the synthwave worshipping “Forever in the Dark,” the anthemic “Saint Sinner,” and the dance party-ready “Paralyzed” might be cheesy and somewhat oversimplified, but they get my head bobbing and I can’t help but hum each one absentmindedly while out and about. On the sonic front, Soulbound’s shift into synthwave territory suits their particular use of melody wonderfully, especially compared to the more industrial crunch of past records. I hope they capitalize on that further going forward. However, the increased volume of moody ballads like “Heartless” in the back half significantly brings the album’s energy down—enough to discourage replays. My suggestion would be to either revisit and develop those ballads into incontrovertibly captivating showstoppers, or cut them entirely in exchange for one or two more infectious bops like “Forever in the Dark” and “Paralyzed” instead.

Soulbound adopted a sonic palette and a poppy songwriting approach that should’ve wholly resonated with me. It checks a lot of my more superficial boxes. However, I’ve been listening to this kind of music for decades now, and demand more hype and substance than what obsYdian offered. Ultimately, I’m hard-pressed to recommend all but a scant three songs to this readership, and even those come with caveats. That said, you’ll hear no judgment from me should you like Soulbound more than I. It’s just not for me.

Rating: Bad.
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metalville
Website: facebook.com/MusicSoulbound
Releases Worldwide: July 26th, 2024

#15 #2024 #Amaranthe #ElectronicMetal #GermanMetal #GothicMetal #IndustrialMetal #Jul24 #MarilynManson #Metalville #obsYdian #PopMetal #Powerman5000 #Review #Reviews #Soulbound #StaticX #Synthwave

Fool the Masses – It’s All Lost Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier

So, Germany’s Fool the Masses emailed the site in hopes that we would review their second full-length record, It’s All Lost. Not only that, but they directed the email to me—as if I’m the metalcore expert at AMG Headquarters. I was born well before that abomination of a genre first reared its ugly head and I’ve had to suffer through the Unearth’s and Trivium’s ever since. But Fool the Masses is unique because it has no drummer and employs a DJ to program the drums and add electronic flavorings to the mix. Yeah, I know, I’ve already lost 85% of you by this point. But, the email was kind. So, without any knowledge of the band, I dove in headfirst to their new record. But, what will this do to Grier and his stellar reputation?1

Fool the Masses is quite new to the scene but have already been hammering out releases in a timely fashion. First came their 2021 EP, Supervision, followed by 2022’s full-length record, Welcome to the Big 7.2 The EP was fairly decent for the style, incorporating those electro elements into clean-vocal choruses and classic, old-school metalcore riffage. With Welcome to the Big 7, they picked up more harsh vocals and almost tripled the runtime by stuffing it with thirteen tracks—which is part of the problem. In a short spurt, I enjoy their music enough to get through it. But Welcome to the Big 7 drags a lot, making it difficult to complete without skipping some tracks. But, being the ever-positive person I am, I walked into It’s All Lost with hopes of improvement. Believe it or not, I was pleasantly surprised with the diverse vocal performance, riffage, production, and overall album flow. I mean, it’s still metalcore, so if you’re hoping that Fool the Masses is about to reinvent the genre, they aren’t. So, feel free to go read a different Grier review.

Though the album opens the useless one-and-a-half-minute “It’s All Lost,” it does display an angrier side to the vocals than on previous releases. When “Into the Void” kicks in, we get hammered with heavy guitars and faux drums that give off some Fear Factory vibes. “Just a Silhouette” is another with some Fear Factory characteristics, specifically when the vocals go clean in the chorus. But both suffer (much like the rest of the album) from the predictable introduction-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-maybe something else-chorus-end songwriting style. The only track on the album’s front half with any standing power is “Dream Talker.” Though, you have to put up with the alternating clean and harsh vocal patterns reminiscent of Slipknot. That said, it has a decent groove and hooking chorus.

When you get to the album’s back half, three songs stand out above the others. The first, and probably the best on the record, has no right to be as good as it is. “Black Soul” has a gorgeous display of clean guitars and vocals that are legitimately fantastic. The song’s pace and mood also make it the black sheep of the album, almost venturing into The Ocean territories when it hits the powerful chorus. The follow-up track, “God Has Left Us,” returns us to the metalcore groove, but it stands out for its nifty, mid-paced chorus with vocals that intermingle nicely with the guitar leads and drum work. Like the previous track, “Seven” has some head-bobbing groove and metalcore heft with overlapping clean and harsh vocals arriving in the memorable chorus. Though it’s not as strong as the two previous tracks, it works better than most others on the disc.

While It’s All Lost isn’t really my jam, I’ll give it props for being a step up in quality compared to Welcome to the Big 7. The back-to-back “Black Soul” and “God Has Left Us” are far more memorable than anything from the band’s previous album. While most songs are hit or miss, “Confessions” and “W.S.T.N.O.F.” are borderline dreadful. While the orchestral elements of “Confessions” are a nice touch, the lyrics, and suicidal, gunshot sound clips completely kill the song3. The latter song is a massive metalcore guitar and drum assault with perhaps the most vicious vocals on the record. Unfortunately, it’s also an electro-orgy that goes too far and takes the edge away. I’m not sure where this band will go from here, but there’s improvement in the songwriting and performances compared to previous releases. So, I can’t be upset about them reaching out and asking me to review their record. Ignoring the lack of trve drums, if you’re one of the metalcore elite, It’s All Lost might be for you.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dr. Music Records
Websites: foolthemasses.com | facebook.com/foolthemasses
Releases Worldwide: June 7th, 2024

#25 #2024 #DrMusicRecords #ElectronicMetal #FearFactory #FoolTheMasses #GermanMetal #ItSAllLost #Jun24 #Metalcore #Review #Reviews #Slipknot #TheOcean #Trivium #Unearth