It's no secret that over the last couple of years, legions of metal bands and musicians are boldly—and some might say blasphemously—integrating elements of breakcore directly into their sound. This hyper-kinetic, sample-laden electronic genre, with its frantic rhythms, is finding its way into the bone-shattering fury of metal's blast beats. Sometimes, these fusions are subtle, serving as a fleeting touch-and-go element within a track, much like on Vein.fm's "Virus://Vibrance" or World of Pleasure's "Everybody Finds Love." In other instances, the amalgamation forms the very core of entire musical ventures, exemplified by artists such as Igorrr, Drumcorp and Phuture Doom. Perhaps most intriguingly, these integrations play a significant role in more established subgenres like cybergrind and Nintendocore. These styles have long demonstrated the diverse ways electronic music and metal can combine, moving beyond the often-oversimplified "industrial" umbrella to explore a richer spectrum of sonic possibilities. What's even crazier is that new groups are still finding ways to make this hybrid approach as exciting and frenetic as ever. Artists like Fallingwithscissors, fromjoy and Bejalvin are shining a vibrant light on these creative unions, forging something truly colorful and groundbreaking.
Enter A Funeral In Purgatory, the latest full-length recording from Illinois-based cybergrind project Blind Equation, fronted by James McHenry. This release was poised to be the band's most ambitious yet, a bold claim considering they've been churning out a maelstrom of chiptune sounds and MIDI drum machine-esque blast beats since 2013's Too Weird to Live, Too Strange to Die. Blind Equation's debut, LIFE IS PAIN (2021), and subsequently 2023's DEATH AWAITS, have also proven to be staples in the cybergrind genre and are largely responsible for the group's growing popularity. In a dramatic departure from their early days of playing underground performances in seedy basements and sooty warehouses, they have even gained the favor of major acts in the metal and EDM scenes, notably supporting Los Angeles dubstep producer SVDDEN DEATH at one of his biggest headline shows at the Tacoma Dome.
With each new offering from Blind Equation, the inevitable debate reignites: Is what this elusive, unorthodox musical project creates truly "grind" or even "cybergrind," as the band themselves have dubbed it? It's a question that consistently arises among both music publications and dedicated fans. Certainly, portions of A Funeral In Purgatory undeniably lean into grindcore territory, subjecting listeners to a healthy dose of blast beats. However, many purists might find themselves less forgiving of the band's penchant for chipping their metal to oblivion or processing the album's atmosphere to a quality reminiscent of a 2010 YouTube Let's Play video. Regardless of where you stand on the genre debate, on how much you truly find the band's music unlistenable, McHenry and his crew have once again delivered a recording that is not only a riot of colour, but remarkably unconventional and intensely irate.
Many who would love A Funeral In Purgatory would also be partial to bands like Fire Toolz, who played a significant role in the mastering of this record, and Machine Girl as Blind Equation's current palette has expanded into a more metal-centric sound. This incorporates prominent elements of goth metal, melodic black metal and MySpace-era deathcore, all while expertly balancing electronic genres such as darkwave, gabber, eurotrance and, of course, breakcore. Take "This Eternal Curse," the album's opening track. It's a perfect introduction, featuring pulsating, pitch-shifted, hardstyle kick drums that would've definitely been the cause of many riots at any given Dutch EDM festival. “It Feels Like The End”, which features former member of multimedia collective Spider Gang, JOHNNASCUS, also sees the group blending trap elements and structure with McHenry's bloodcurdling, metal-adjacent screams, punctuated by distorted 808s that could easily have appeared on Black Dresses’ Peaceful As Hell (2020).
"Flashback" continues to pay tribute to skramz and the online internet digicore spaces in which their music initially flourished. Even as they collaborate with experimental artist and trancecore legend Strawberry Hospital, the track features vocaloid-esque melodies that could be pulled straight from a Yume Nikki soundtrack or a Dance Dance Revolution load-up screen. These vibrant melodies are underscored by punchy drums that sound like a boxing coach unleashing working-class frustrations on a speedbag. The band consistently demonstrates that the heaviness and ferocity of the Blind Equation project lies in its rhythmic passages, refusing to stick to a singular drum timbre, as showcased on "Incomplete," which seamlessly swaps from drum machines to a full drum kit in mere seconds. In spite of this, it all accumulates into a seamless, tightly-wound experience.
While still favoring overdriven synth pads over traditional lead guitars and complex riffs, McHenry's latest work also significantly incorporates doom-metal-style guitar tones. These aren't the main event, but on tracks like "...In Purgatory" and "Relinquished Dreams," they act as a potent supplement, fueling the recording's aggressive nature and lending a distinctively sinister edge. It’s the same type of sinister akin to being stuck in the sub-zero depths of the video game Subnautica (2018), while being stalked by a family of leviathans. Yet, this oppressive atmosphere is skillfully juxtaposed with Nintendo-esque synths and a cold, isolating ambiance reminiscent of an empty office late at night—just you, your old Commodore workstation and the groan of dial-up internet. Many of the synthesizers and interludes on this record are a nostalgic trip for fellow gamers, evoking memories of intense play sessions, like the frustration and triumph of trying to conquer the hardest Geometry Dash level. But this time, you're not reliving those moments directly; you're viewing them through the flickering, analog screen of a CRT television, its picture slowly degrading as the power fades, mirroring the fragility of those distant memories.