Are you tired of deathcore? Do you even like deathcore? Personally, I have a like-despise relationship with this palm-muted, tremolo-picked, breakdown-reliant genre. The angsty teenager in me adores the rebellious nature of deathcore, minus the blatant misogynistic lyrical themes of its heyday, but the sophisticated, hoity-toity journalist in me fears the style's current wash of originality—the vocal Olympics of BLEGHS and GRUAAHS, the slams, etc. Sure, I've found some palatable bands, usually only made so by the attempted reinventing of the jagged, metallic wheel. The latest band to cross my speculatory deathcore threshold is Canada's own Heteromorphic Zoo, who are set apart by their inventive instrumentation and a refreshing abandonment of all things stereotypical.
The band is made up of Bryce Butler, a prolific drummer who's worked with The Faceless, Brojob and Shadow of Intent (to name just a few), bassist Jon Power, guitarist and composer Ray Heberer, recurring vocalist Coty Garcia and—last but absolutely not least—intermittent vocalist and permanent violinist Megan Ash. This power quintet makes some dazzling deathcore, making their entire discography is no laborious task to get through, while their latest release is a nice taste of what they hopefully have to offer later this year.
Ash's violin fits in well with each track, giving the song a neoclassical or symphonic feel, akin to Synestia. It's a constant instrument, too that sticks around from single to single. Their 2024 EP New World features the violin in every single effort, with "Aura of Despair" as the best example of her solo riffing. The single and accompanying music video display her tenacity in the new year. The band doesn't rely on the strings to distract though. Their discography is laden with noddable grooves and sometimes progressive passages as well, plus I only encountered only a single overdone breakdown, per the style standard.
So take half an hour of your day and listen to Heteromorphic Zoo, beginning with their newly-released single "Benediction" (below). I'll surely be stalking the socials for a full-length album, because they simply can't drop this on a random Tuesday then disappear.