Back with another edition of rotten core is rotten. A number of big names have dropped releases recently but we've chosen to focus on a few that may have slipped past your attention over the past month or so, from the likes of Coilguns, Hidden Mothers, Yellfire, and more.
Last RTTC I used this intro paragraph to highlight the great new live album from Rolo Tomassi, so I'm going to double-down on that this month with another shout for the sometimes post-hardcore, but always excellent mewithoutyou who recently released Live, Vol. One into the world. A collection of their greatest hits spanning across their lengthy discography of poetic, artsy, indie-post-hardcore, compiled from a number of shows from their farewell tour. I also appreciate their somewhat novel release approach to this, of labelling all of the songs on bandcamp as just "Song #" etc. From the band: "This was done to allow the songs to reveal themselves to listeners as they would in a live show setting. We believe this provides the most enjoyable way to experience the album, and we encourage you not to skip ahead." A must listen for long-time fans, and not a bad launching point for newcomers.
-TB
The Wall of Death
Hidden Mothers - Erosion / Avulsion (post-hardcore, atmospheric sludge, blackgaze)
One of the best kept secrets in both the post-hardcore and post-black metal scenes for a few years now, Hidden Mothers have finally emerged with their triumphant debut full-length, Erosion / Avulsion. Hype has been building especially in the British underground since their underappreciated self-titled EP back in 2020, and this new full-length should be the release that propels them into global appreciation. Muddying the barriers between multiple post- and -core influences, their palette of sounds all succeed at delivering emotional blow after blow. Throughout the album the infectious and repetitious riffing of post-metal that builds and cascades meets the emotional catharsis of screamo’s vocal outpouring. This is complemented by powerful and grizzly clean vocals that some might mistake for later-era Thrice, and the dynamic atmosphere of blackgaze, shifting from melancholy to euphoria.
Last year I saw Thrice on their anniversary tour of Artist in the Ambulance, supported by the ethereal heavy shoegaze brilliance of Holy Fawn. I don’t know if those two bands managed to conceive a child during that tour, because Hidden Mothers feels eerily like that exact outcome, and would certainly fit on a bill with either one. While these links are certainly notable, I don't want to reduce this down to just a clone or a derivative, as they go places that neither of those bands do, and this is much more than the sum of those parts. The production also reflects these varying elements, allowing the ruggedness of the sludgy post-hardcore and the ethereal atmospheres to align for just the right amount of clarity and oomph.
Now fans of that debut self-titled EP will find this did lose a little bit of the Deafheaven meets envy blackgazing screamo edge in favour of a more noisy post-hardcore by-way-of atmospheric sludge approach. Fittingly it wouldn't be a surprise to see this appear on a playlist with the likes of Coilguns or Yellfire. Comparisons could also be drawn to modern Rolo Tomassi on the instrumental side on tracks like “The Grey” that feature a stretched out post-metal intro, before dueling harsh vocals and heavier riffing kicks in. This eventually builds into a big emotionally-charged Oathbreaker-y outro. All of this reflects the patience put into the song-writing, like any good post- album that attention to detail in making every moment feel earned and worthwhile goes a long way, and this is reflected from start to finish on this album. Second to last track “Violet Sun” feels like the perfect encapsulation of everything great about this album, from sounding like the most interesting Thrice song in years, a huge range of passionate vocals, to a huge catharsis inducing climax. A delicate balance of melancholy, fury, and beauty, this is what post-hardcore is all about.
-TB
Coilguns - Oddlove (noise rock, post-hardcore)
In the digital age, five years is a lifetime. Bands form and dissipate within half of that time. But that’s the length of time it took Coilguns to follow up their hard-hitting 2019 full-length Watchwinders with their newest full-length, Oddlove. After five years, it’s apparent that the band has dulled the edge of their noise rock knife while simultaneously expanding their palette with leaner songwriting, ramped up melody, and a greater appreciation for sonic space. Much like Cave In have gradually been able to balance their metalcore origins with their later alternative rock stylings without compromising one for the other, Coilguns have accomplished this without swinging wildly in the other direction like Cave In did. Rather, they have stripped down their sound and tempered their more aggressive tendencies to create what might be their crowning artistic achievement.
You and I in the Gap, the band’s split with Birds in Row earlier this year, was the first clue of Coilguns’ direction toward leaner songwriting. It now serves as a retrospective mile marker indicating where Coilguns’ heads were at during the writing and recording of Oddlove. Throughout that split release, the collective utilizes much more negative space and more melodicism than Coilguns had previously used in their work.
On Oddlove, it’s almost immediately clear from that this is a different Coilguns based on the first two tracks alone, “We Missed The Parade” and “Placeholders.” The desperate cries and throaty rasp of vocalist Louis Jucker that were prevalent on Watchwinders and Commuters, respectively, are replaced with a cleaner vocal style. The prominent low-end and angular melodies of previous releases take a back seat. And, to top it all off, a whistled melody and a “whoa oh oh” refrain are central motifs in “Placeholders.” It’s not until halfway through “Generic Skincare” that a more familiar Coilguns sound emerges with a monstrous down-tuned riff.
Ultimately, it becomes clear that this is Coilguns’ most stylistically and compositionally diverse album. “Caravel” slowly builds up with a steady snare roll, delayed guitar pattern, and ominous piano chords. “Black Chyme” might be comparable to Dillinger Escape Plan’s “Black Bubblegum” in the way that it’s a relatively straightforward pop song undercover among a variety of stylistically diverse tracks and coming from a band well-known for their in-your-face aggression. But again, even with tracks like “Black Chyme”, Coilguns have not abandoned their earlier sound altogether. Rather, they have carefully balanced it with a broader array of sounds.
While the past five years may have softened the edges and reduced the immediacy of Coilguns’ sound, that time allowed the band to expand the palette to take their brand of noise rock and post-hardcore in more diverse and rewarding directions.
-JD
Yellfire - Dear Gods (post-hardcore, mathcore)
When a band can call on guest vocals from the likes of John Pettibone (Heiress, Himsa) and Demien Johnston (Great Falls) you know they’re mixing with the right crowd and must have something pretty good up their sleeve. By this rationale, Yellfire have pulled off a magic trick that would leave Penn and Teller stumped, because their debut album, Dear Gods, is beyond impressive and we're clearly looking at a band we all need to sit up and pay attention to from here on out.
The Seattle quartet had only put out a six track EP back in 2019 before unleashing this gloriously accomplished and lofty collection. Their sound borrows heavily from the epic mathcore of neighbours Botch and metalcore titans Every Time I Die, but they also add elements of post metal and noise rock to their well-crafted sound. If Botch had decided to make an album akin to Cave In's Jupiter, it probably would've sounded something like this. Let that sink in for a minute. A mathcore “Big Riff”? Fuck yes, dont mind if I do.
This album is in no way as accessible as that modern classic (nor will it be splitting as many crowds). Dear Gods is full of pounding, angular riffs and abrasive screams, but it somehow feels considered and easily digestible, as though they've covered every track in some kind of delicious black treacle. Every track just slides down the gullet. So much so, that the 42-minute duration flies by in the blink of an eye and you’ll be clamoring for it all over again.
There are many highlights to pick from, including the two tracks with aforementioned guest vocalists, but I'll go with the erratic yet beautiful “One Into The Other” as one of my stand out moments. It's off-melodic intro of “Why did they cut you? / just have to ask” is eerie and provocative at the same time, luring you into something impending. An assortment of huge jagged riffs are then unleashed and you won't want it to stop. This song genuinely gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing up like needles!
The use of clean female vocals (Nouela Johnston) is a nice touch on “Cynics Revision”. It's subtle, an intricate backing vocal really, but goddamn is it effective and lifts the song through the hardcore smog and up to new heights. It's the only track that has these vocals and I completely understand why, but the fact it works so well means they should definitely be revisiting this angle in the future.
The whole album is a class act, from the quasi-retro space themed artwork, down to the Matt Bayles (yes, more Botch connections) mix, and I sincerely hope that it's a success for Yellfire, because the potential of this group is ridiculous. Get in at ground level before they take off.
-PK
The Crowdkillers
Leylines - Leylines (mathcore, technical metal)
I knew nothing about Leylines before pressing play on their debut six track EP, but the quality and intensity of what lay within had me hurriedly looking them up. “These guys know what they're doing.“ I said to myself…and I was right. This is a new project made up of members from Through The Eyes of The Dead, Decrepit Birth and ex-The Contortionist, among others. Somewhat unsurprisingly these day jobs do emanate through the technical metal on offer, with a distinct mid-noughties feel to the delivery and production. In fact, the slightly retro (does 2005 classify as retro?) vibe is what hit me first, and pulled me into Leylines claustrophobic cloud of turmoil.
There are some obvious comparisons to bands from that era, such as Ion Dissonance, Ed Gein and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, but Leylines are also trying to plough their own furrow with intelligent song structures and the occasional smattering of melody thrown in for good measure. Saying that, the melody is in the minority, as this is a brutally unrelenting morsel that will twist your brain into a knot just to prove that it can. They also have a great knack of knowing when to stop the calculus influenced time changes and break out some huge mosh inducing riffage.
According to drummer, Michael Ranne, the band have an album’s worth of new material written and ready to record. In fact, the new tracks are being aired at live shows, so they clearly have momentum and determination to make this project work. On the evidence of this EP we should keep our eyes and ears peeled for a lot more from this crew of metal alumni.
-PK
THECHEESEBURGERPICNIC - Nausea (mathgrind, sass)
THECHEESEBURGERPICNIC walk a fine line between oppressively dense noisegrind, and the technicality of mathcore without compromising on either. The solo-project of Maya Chun, also of new screamo group Heavenly Blue and dissonant-black metal projects Serpent Column and Theophonos, THECHEESEBURGERPICNIC emerged back in 2017 with their acclaimed mathgrind debut Iodine. The project went quiet for a few years until re-emerging in 2022 with a split with cybergrind project Thotcrime. The surprise new release Nausea sees them return with 8 tracks of roughly 1-minute long barrages of unrelenting white-belt-donning fury. There’s nothing reserved, or neat, or tidy about this. Everything feels blown out, pushed to the max, and visceral. Maybe the best part about this is how deliberate and intentional it all feels. Maya knew exactly what they wanted this to sound like down to a T, and the execution was perfect. It’s an obliteration of the senses not for the faint of heart. Like seeing Psyopus play a packed basement show, but everyone's probably a little bit gay, and spin-kicking.
-TB
HOARI - S/T (mathcore, blackened crust)
One of the most surprising and best mathcore EPs of the year, the debut self-titled release from Russian group HOARI has the heaviness of something like Burner with enough of the chaotic fun of an Every Time I Die. The sense of ‘evil’ is often lost in this genre behind the technicality and complexity, but that is not the case here. There’s an unnerving creepiness snaking itself throughout this release, in the haunting atmospheres, the guitar tones, the walls of rotten sound, the pained raspy delivery of their vocalist, even the russian language itself somehow translates in screamed form to something that feels more anguished. Formed from members of blackened post-metal group Wowod, and early 2010s mathcore band Follow The White Rabbit, HOARI feels like the natural fusion and evolution of these groups, and their acumen shows in the quality of this release.
-TB
Glassbone - Deaf to Suffering (deathcore, beatdown hardcore)
Love a bit of death metal written by hardcore dudes, or hardcore written by death metal dudes? Either way, you get the idea. Just stupidly heavy caveman riffs built for stomping around a fire, or a pit, a fire pit? Yeah, this review is going to be as dumb and simple and short as beatdown slam, but hopefully a tiny bit as good. Deaf to Suffering is the second EP from the French group and a very promising sign of things to come. This does everything I want from this genre, from some 200 Stab Wounds level slamming riffs, pingy snares, the occasional dash and blast of a solo, and killer gutturals throughout. You're moshing.
-TB
The Circle Pit (Best of the Rest (since our last post))
Counterparts - Heaven Let Them Die (metalcore)
Chat Pile - Cool World (noise rock)
Better Lovers - Highly Irresponsible (chaotic hardcore, metalcore)
Fit For An Autopsy - The Nothing That Is (deathcore, groove metal)
Make Them Suffer - S/T (metalcore)
Concealer - Heartfelt Entries (oldschool metalcore)
Worm Shepherd - Hunger (deathcore)
Underneath - It Exists Between Us (metallic hardcore)
Geronimostilton - bloodstained snow (mathcore)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Tragedy as Catharsis (emoviolence)
Touche Amore - Spiral in a Straight Line (post-hardcore)
Envy - Eunoia (screamo, emogaze)
Planes Mistaken for Stars - Do You Still Love Me? (post-hardcore, alt rock)
Laudare - Requiem (post-metal, screamo, experimental)
Various Artists - The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated
Fucked Up - Someday (post-hardcore)
Terror Cell - All Quiet (sludgecore, screamo)
Senza - Celestial Bodies (emoviolence)
Buñuel - Mansuetude (noise rock, post-hardcore)
See You Next Tuesday & Meth - Asymmetrics CONJONCTIVE - Misère de Poussière (deathcore)
Bottom surgery - xBxSx (cybergrind)
Fliora - Welcome the Blossom (metallic hardcore)
Manipulator - Dragging Matter (grind)
End It All - Unyielding Hate (hardcore)
Ritemaker - The Whip Hand (blackened crust, post-hardcore)
Clot - Hostility / Dehiscence (grind)
Isabel - Phantom Limbs (noise rock)
Dreamwell / Death Goals - Split (screamo, metalcore)