Weekly Update #25 – August 11, 2024

FEATURED ALBUM
Sold Soul // I Hope We Make It Out Of This Alive
Released: December 1, 2022

I really really like this album. I come back to it every month or so, and it kills me that Sold Soul disbanded after releasing it. This humble yet elevated brand of deathcore is needed more than ever right now.

This album captures the essence of the occult. Bands typically try so hard to sound “dark” and “evil,” but they normally come off as cliché tryhards. This album lives up to its art – conveying the dread of a Victorian era village being descended upon by demons.

The subtle symphonic sections are stellar – they infuse a sense of journey into many of the songs. “Summit of Dragons” has galactic conquest vibes, clearly the result of featuring Chris Wiseman from Shadow of Intent. “Valley of Lycans” also builds to an epic middle section with support from some pretty unconventional singing passages.

The vocalist also deserves a lot of credit. His mid range screams have a lot of power and his inflection adds some nice flare. They remind me a bit of Shrine of Malice, and I appreciate the annunciation and clarity, especially from a deathcore band. His flow and rapid fire antics are also kind of similar to early Whitechapel.

While this album has tons of solid, unapologetic deathcore, there is also a lot of variety. “Sea of Ghosts” and “Things Betwixt” have some interesting singing sections that add to the witchy atmosphere and “Cathedral of Dracul” even features a fast rap section that fits pretty well.

There are plenty of heavy moments too. “Hunt Above, Dwell Below” and “For Whom The Banshee Cries” have some garbage-disposal vocals reminiscent of Worm Shepherd.

Rest easy Sold Soul. I’ll always regret not being able to buy a shirt with this album art on it. Apparently the vocalist created almost all of the music and is going to revive the band’s sound under the name Gnarled Horns (which is a previous Sold Soul song title). 

Playlist of New Songs

Quick playlist highlights:

– Make Them Suffer is killing it with these singles. Their new album comes out on November 8, and it’s starting to look like it’ll be their best since ‘Old Souls.’ Alex Reade’s singing is so much better than Booka’s it’s actually insane.

– I’m not a huge fan of The Plot In You‘s decision to release all these “Volumes” that are basically three-song EPs. The songs are great though. Tons of variety and Landon has been one of the best minds in heavy music for a long time.

– Ocean Ate Alaska‘s new vocalist is definitely good, but I need to hear more before I can really compare their new material to their old sound. I don’t think the new guy’s singing style is as dynamic as previous vocalists and I’m curious to see if he settles into a certain screaming style over time. I think he was trying to sound like James on the first song (Endless Hollow) so fans would accept him, but he sounds pretty different here. The screams are a lot dryer – kind of like a mix of Matt Honeycutt from Kublai Khan and Ed Butcher from I Killed The Prom Queen’s 2006 album. Anyway, the song is good, I’m just not sure if it feels like Oceans Ate Alaska.

– The new Gravemind album is solid. I didn’t expect to go back to it as many times as I did. If you like what Make Them Suffer has been doing, you’ll like these guys.

– I See Stars…what are you even doing? Devin has incredible range, as evidenced by the chorus, but then you waste half the song with monotone talking? And these screams are garbage. It’s just insane. All they have to do is make New Demons 2.0 or at least go back to the softer style they had on Treehouse and they would literally print money. I don’t know how they still have 700,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Treehouse came out 8 years ago and they’ve been stringing us along ever since.

– Better Lovers‘ album comes out on October 25. I’m not sure if it’ll beat Every Time I Die in their prime, but I really like how it’s shaping up. Plus, hearing Greg Puciato in a heavy setting again is so so cool.

– Dude, I think 156/Silence is going to be the dark horse of the year. They were #12 on my 2022 list, and these last three singles have been spectacular. Their sound won’t appeal to everyone, but compared to how unknown they are now, there’s no way this album doesn’t elevate them.

– I haven’t seen an album announcement from Memphis May Fire even though this is the third single they’ve released this year. The electronic undertones are a little repetitive, but the chorus is really good. I’m just glad that Matty seems to have decided to stay heavy. That’s definitely the winning formula for MMF.

– Miss May I is getting cooked in the YouTube comments for the terrible mix on this. Remastering old songs is tricky because people have been listening to the original version for, in this case, 15 years. The original mix has so much character, and they clearly tried to recreate that mix, but it came out fuzzy and has none of the original appeal. I don’t know, I’m probably not the best person to give an opinion on this because I never prefer remastered versions over the original. But that’s probably because I like how songs were mixed in the late 2000s. Everything is so sterilized and safe now.

– The Black Dahlia Murder has another solid single. It’s more subdued. Kind of reminds me of Job For A Cowboy’s slower, more brooding songs.

– Kublai Khan just put out a quick, one minute track. I assume it’ll be the album opener. It’s pretty tough. Would be fun to see them open shows with it.