GHØSTKID
HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE
In another example of the metal world’s equivalent to white privilege, GHØSTKID managed to leverage the European mainland’s insatiable frenzy for mid metalcore on their debut album, to become a somewhat significant name. ‘Somewhat’ is the operative word there, given that they still feel constrained under a ceiling that’s basically unscathed after multiple attempts to ram through, though to give GHØSTKID credit, they seem to have done more than most. They’ve penetrated a wider market, at least, because apparently a debut that, on occasion, could sound like a very, very poor man’s Bring Me The Horizon was what people wanted. Ties to Electric Callboy wouldn’t have hurt, but be honest—is all of that enough to warrant a second go? There’s already entirely too much metalcore falling below the waterline that’s just allowed to stagnantly exist, of which GHØSTKID haven’t been able to prove they’re much better than.
So what of HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE, then? Does the bad title and the artwork and the fact that GHØSTKID are already too close for comfort to old-fashioned, Asking Alexandria-esque edgecore bode as terribly as it should? Erm…no? Or at least, not as much as last time. It’s a hazard that’ll never be out of GHØSTKID’s purview, but the fact they’re doing something with it this time can work in their favour, within a quasi-concept album about the pursuit of stardom that leads to a heavy, substance-fuelled crash. Very Asking Alexandria in that sense, then, though in the shape of what was arguably their best. There’s a stomping nu-metal hedonism to FSU and bigger, high-density alt-metal hookage to S3X and BLACK CLOUD, as the key junctures of GHØSTKID’s truncated yet reachable emotional spectrum.
That’s also true of how good HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE as a whole is—potential to impress is limited, but with what’s here, GHØSTKID do fine. Straying outside of their lane is never a good idea, as proven by the zombified emo-rap clunker VALERIE, but honing in on the big choruses and industrialised grind produces their strongest yield. It’s enough to get them on track with the scene, anyway; if, previously, they were obviously behind, the bid to catch up here has worked. It’s also good to see some grit and gristle back into play amid the scene of buffed Euro-metal clones, and Sebastian ‘Sushi’ Biester’s more ragged vocals ultimately follow suit. Despite the lack of pizzazz anywhere outside of its immediate vicinity, HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE still feels preferable to the majority of that emerging around it. The nu-metalcore vibe is just more interesting on its face, and even if the crop of foundational ideas is just as scant, the average is stronger.
Truly a glowing recommendation, is it not? Yeah, well, that’s the sort of thing you have to make peace with in a band like GHØSTKID—the grading curve is your best friend, worth getting to know and appreciate in situations like this. Because on its own, HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE is admittedly limited, but the flashes of quality and improvement that’s pretty evident can keep it afloat. Maybe not enough to justify GHØSTKID’s prominence in their corner of the genre, but that’s its own matter. You’re not gonna control that, though a slight uptick like this comes a hair closer to better understanding it.
For fans of: Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, InVisions
‘HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE’ by GHØSTKID is released on 22nd March on Century Media Records.
Leaves’ Eyes
Myths Of Fate
If a useful measure to judge symphonic-metal bands is the vector of world domination they operate on, then Leaves’ Eyes are still firm B-to-C-listers. Like all of these, they’ve got a lot of fans and a lot of albums, but they’re hardly in the conversation with Nightwish or Within Temptation, are they? Those bands have spent years shaping and defining what this genre is; Leaves’ Eyes, meanwhile, came along distinctly later, and with less of an identity. A casual onlooker would struggle to name the Leaves’ Eyes song or album, which you’d think a band over 20 years deep would’ve caught wind of and looked to rectify. But, no—Myths Of Fate still isn’t that. Not by a long shot, in fact.
Like, it’s still alright, but you have to bring a lot more than that to keep your head above water in this scene nowadays. Leaves’ Eyes’ best outcome is in a vacuum, free from natural, inevitable comparisons, and where their crashing strings and operatic bombast can exist purely on self-worth. But that’s never been realistic in symphonic-metal. Like it or not, similarities between vast swathes of acts are bone-deep, and on that token, Myths Of Fate is a disappointingly workmanlike effort. For one, we’re still in Norse mythology, as if Leaves’ Eyes intend to nail themselves to their genre’s most obvious plays. Norse mythology is cool, but surely there’s more to dig into than the World Serpent or the einherjar, which for a band in pretty close proximity to Viking-metal anyway, feels bizarrely entry-level this far down the road.
But really, you don’t even have to go that deep to find signs of how perfunctory this feels. On a purely sonic basis, Myths Of Fate is so underpowered, by virtue of the ‘metal’ part of its genre’s name almost totally marginalised. There’s a stark contrast between how sharp and clear the strings will be throughout, and the flat blocks of guitar that grumble where they should roar. It really is the basic, misaligned preconception of what symphonic-metal is, feigning an epic scope on all fronts even though it’s totally unable to pay it off. That’s even true of the vocals, one of the main gimmes this genre has going for it. Elina Siirala’s classical training shows in technique rather than application, as another source of sapped vivacity which a song like Realm Of Dark Waves can throw near the hey-nonny-nonny flouncery that this sound has often been accused of. Next to her is Alexander Krull on uncleans, which are closer to speaking through a scaaaary monster voice, topped off by the garbled diction that leaves them impossible to buy as impactful.
And where does that all leave Leaves’ Eyes? Why, stuck in the lurch of symphonic-metal with little hope of progressing, of course! It really should go without saying that symphonic-metal has far grown out of albums like this, and the fact they keep coming out only seals their fate as floor-lining beneath the top players. Quite simply, when there’s no shortage of bands exploring far bolder heights with this sound on the regular, Leaves’ Eyes putting out just another one of these feels unmistakably lacklustre. For those hellbent on genre completionism…well, here’s another way to kill the best part of an hour (or two, if you’re inclined to also go through the instrumental versions of every single song). Otherwise, you’re just circling the drain.
For fans of: Delain, Sirenia, Xandria
‘Myths Of Fate’ by Leaves’ Eyes is released on 22nd March on AFM Records.
AVRALIZE
FREAKS
AVRALIZE are a metalcore band from Germany, signed to Arising Empire. Is that enough? Is there anything more you could possibly need to know when that single sentence can scream it so, so loud? Suffice it to say, the thought of another name plucked from the aether and trotted out to plough a contempo-metal furrow that’s already digging into the mantle doesn’t get the blood pumping anymore, especially not from this label. And yet, there’s probably a bit more to FREAKS, or at least to where it’s outside the realms of metalcore’s Cocomelon, in designated space-fillers to slake the individuals who’ll listen to literally nothing else.
It’s a low bar, as you can imagine, and one that AVRALIZE aren’t killing themselves to handily clear, either. In the grand, labyrinthine ranks of metalcore, FREAKS is no standard-setter. The production is polished immaculately; the delivery is a standard enough affair; and it’s all wrapped up in a way to portray heaviness without going too far. Truly, this is ‘modern metalcore’ emblazoned. But even so, that blaze has a more wherewithal than others who’d be extinguished by a mild breeze. The tech-metal touches and additional colours of synth trickle in to make it so, helped out by some impressively dominant bass on HIGHER or STAB BY STAB that’s the most significant cut above.
Even a small confluence of factors can help, even if only to highlight round the edges of some already solid melodic instincts. It’s the best thing that AVRALIZE could leave intact from the base template, kept lean to only eight songs to mitigate any overreach significantly. And while there’s rarely a proper earworm to speak of, points should go for branching out as much as CANVAS does, not only in an entrenched, rock-solid rhythm section that only gets better further along, but in the tight saxophone trill that’s shockingly off-script for something like this. It speaks to the aforementioned lowness of that bar when this is a ‘jump the shark’ moment, but hey, if it works, it works.
And look—none of this is some incredible feat by AVRALIZE. As the second Euro-metalcore release in this Round-Up alone, it’s indicative of how much bigger the untenable melange is than just one kinda-better band’s efforts. Especially in the genre’s wider world, FREAKS is a molecule in the bucket, let alone a drop. It’s also not without its likability, though, and that’s worth celebrating, as ephemeral as it can feel. No, AVRALIZE aren’t revolutionising anything—not even close—but a tighter, more flavourful package is hard to grumble at next to the alternative. If that whole crew had more like this, maybe there’d be less derision thrown its way. Or maybe it’d become just a homogenised; who knows?
For fans of: Breathe Atlantis, ALAZKA, MAVIS
‘FREAKS’ by AVRALIZE is released on 22nd March on Arising Empire.
Mastiff
Deprecipice
So, it seems as though Mastiff are a bit peeved. Maybe even a bit cross. You’d never guess, with song titles like Bite Radius, or Skin Stripper, or Thorn Trauma. …okay, perhaps it’s the most obvious thing in the world, not least because there’s a whole discography behind them dedicated to immolation among the grimness, gristle and sludge of life itself. Here’s another helping of that, in which the punishment hasn’t been alleviated at all, nor has Mastiff’s dogged (heh…) commitment to doling it out. If it ain’t broke, and all that.
Anyway, you’re not coming to a Mastiff album to not see that, let’s be real. The band themselves couldn’t be more aware of that, and Deprecipice plays directly into it from essentially every angle. Bite Radius is the inciting nuke-drop, as an oppressively-produced death-metal / hardcore / bleak-opaque-noise hybrid with barely a single moment of respite. Across Deprecipice, the approach may change from then on, but the result basically turns out the same way. It’s all unrepentant, lead-heavy devastation in numerous forms—Cut Throat is infected by screaming static and industrialised noise; elsewhere, the angular knives of noise on Skin Stripper emulate some mutilation tool whose purpose is laid out in its name.
It’s not like Mastiff are against a pure, succinct battering, either; far from it. That’s actually the thesis statement of the sludge and hardcore they’ve descended from, as there’s always a pitch-black menace looming over beatdown and torrent of foul sound (in a good way). “We’re so close to the fucking end,” screams the yawning maw of Void’s closing salvo, with frontman Jim Hodge acting as mediator for a brawl between sonic forces that bring out the most hostile, misanthropic sides of each other. Naturally, this is all a good thing for what Mastiff are looking to achieve. Pile on the volume, throw in a bass tone on Everything Is Ending and Worship that could cave a few heads at once all on its own, and you’re golden.
In other words, Mastiff are sounding as good as they ever have, with no signs of that going away. They’ve already got the biggest platform they ever have—far bigger than most comparable acts, at that—with no notable effects on the work they produce. If anything, they‘ve actually been getting heavier, as Deprecipice feels like a ceiling being tested at the very least, if not outright lifted. Obviously this won’t be for everyone, but extreme music is made all the better for an act like Mastiff—consistent, uncompromised, and only showing off more of themselves every time.
For fans of: Nails, Crowbar, Converge
‘Deprecipice’ by Mastiff is released on 22nd March on MNRK Heavy.
Words by Luke Nuttall
