DIIV
Frog In Boiling Water
For the crime of being a shoegaze band at a time when patience in music is a hen’s-teeth-esque commodity, DIIV have been sequestered among a wave of Pitchfork-core with little hope for escape. Of course, affiliations with the likes of Deafheaven and Sky Ferreira would put them in that crossfire alone, not to mention some flagrant hipster-bait on 2016’s breakthrough Is The Is Are. That’s a customary flavour in shoegaze’s palette, though, and unlike Deafheaven who’ve largely managed to build around it, DIIV are by no means architects of entire scenes. Maybe then, they can seem a little…slow? It’s not transcendent like the best of shoegaze needs to be; more just on the regular plane.
Or, at least, Frog In Boiling Water is still in the shadow of Is The Is Are. That album could frequently feel on the cusp of getting there, like a keystone moment for DIIV. This, in contrast, definitely wears its ‘a couple of albums further down the line’ vibe. Maybe that’s a consequence of a largely untrained ear for this stuff—hi—but it’s also noteworthy in how Frog In Boiling Water doesn’t grip all that strongly. As dreamlike and blurred-over as DIIV want to sound, it doesn’t culminate in long-lasting impressions, as songs will come and go with just the spectre of some homogeneous slow pacing being all that remains. At a push, you might recall the defined chimes of Little Birds, or a vaguely post-punk aura around Brown Paper Bag, but that’s also an exhaustive list, basically.
Even so, Frog In Boiling Water will have its moments regardless. You can tell that DIIV are pretty seasoned in this stuff now, and the listenable wash of shoegaze comes fairly naturally to them. You’re unlikely to stumble across much that’s disagreeable on this album, just as often—if not more so—as anything that jumps out. And maybe that’s a blessing when Zachary Cole Smith’s voice is entirely accommodating of that, faint and reedy with no chance of lyrics or histrionics wresting much attention. To anyone already neck deep in tides of shoegaze fuzz and distortion, it’s about as unobjectionably characteristic in most place as you’ll get, and that won’t be a complaint.
To anyone hoping that tide might turn for them on this one, though, that’s a bit of a harder sell. It’s not like DIIV are crafting a tentpole release on Frog In Boiling Water; it’s just a normal album from them, and mileage will vary depending on past receptiveness to that. From this perspective, it does its job without backbreaking effort for more, which is amicable at best and nonplussing at worst. Less a boiling frog, more one stewing in its lukewarm broth where any iota of urgency is yet to hit.
For fans of: Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils, Real Estate
‘Frog In Boiling Water’ by DIIV is released on 24th May on Fantasy Records.
Defects
Modern Error
Y’know, for a band called Defects, they sure aren’t showing very many of them. This is their debut full-length with a pool of previous material limited to its pre-release singles, and already, growing pains seem to be fairly stifled. And when that’s compounded by the inherent thanklessness of a new metalcore band trying to claim even the tiniest sliver of elbow room, it’s not nothing. So when Modern Error appears to be getting off the ground without a hitch, it’s probably worth taking notice, given that Defects are probably in a rare, highly coveted spot for themselves.
It helps that this is a better type of metalcore from the off, striking closer to Bury Tomorrow sans much of the melodeath bent. Straight away, that fosters a refreshing lack of contrivance that a lot of the genre thrives on, even on songs where the production is markedly cleaner like End Of Days or especially Echo Chamber. Take those as individual pieces and maybe it’s a bit more iffy, but the wider context of the album is significantly less waterlogged by studio sheen. Defects find a way to make straight-down-the-middle fare work with opener proper Scapegoat, in the quicker, bone-breaking pace and decidedly aggro feel that’s rounded up again for Recurring or the title track. And of course, a metalcore album needs its slobberknocker hooks as centrepieces, for which Dream Awake, Another Heart To Bleed and a solid handful more are perfectly up to task.
It’s all incredibly straightforward; if you’re digging specifically for intricacy or innovation, you’re getting right to the bottom disappointed and unfulfilled. If you’re after modern metalcore that’s as tight, clear and well-constructed as it gets, though, Defects have you covered. It’s actually a wonder that Modern Error does land as well as it does, when it’s admittedly a bit longer than what Defects’ breadth of ideas can manage. At least it doesn’t drag its feet too much, though. The non-specific metalcore anger, evergreen as it may be, does have a bit more going on under the hood, inspired by vocalist Tony Maue’s growing up in care which makes his intense venting more palpable. It’s even enough to salve the odd clanger that comes up, like Dream Awake’s assertion of “I remember why I hate mankind” that’s overselling a vibe that Defects are totally unable to catch up to.
On the whole, then, this is all perfectly fine. With how easily slaked the appetite of the average metalcore glutton is, it’s hard to imagine Modern Error being too objectionable to any of them. And at long last, that can be said without a twinge of disappointment at another barely-identifiable Bad Omens facsimile unleashed upon the world. Perhaps Defects are a bit too straight-laced and clean-cut in their own right to topple that enterprise singlehandedly, but it’s a start. More of this—a solid effort worth cultivating to fill out its looser ends—is exceptionally more preferable.
For fans of: Bury Tomorrow, Killswitch Engage, While She Sleeps
‘Modern Error’ by Defects is released on 24th May on Mascot Label Group.
Graywave
Dancing In The Dust
Chances are that Graywave will be spending the rest of 2024 (and likely beyond) picking up some pretty considerable attention. They feel like the sort of act who would, bubbling among an evergreen post-rock and -metal set liable to produce at least a handful of noteworthy breakthroughs a year. Rarely does it lash out with vigour, but the strikes it does dole are equally crushing and ethereal, and uniformly proficient. Maybe you could even say there are some ‘deft ones’ in there.
In other words…yeah, Graywave sound like Deftones. A lot like Deftones, in fact. Though, when you consider Loathe’s successes in a similar realm have been the white whale that plenty others have been fruitlessly chasing, Graywave as the remora clinging on and getting some nutrition for themselves isn’t something to scoff at. Dancing In The Dust is still a pretty early release for them, too, so much so that the occasional mercenary dip into Chino and co.’s kitty of ideas like on Falling Apart and Dark Spell can be forgiven. Even more so because Graywave do pull it off well, never feeling shallow or stiffened. This is a sound that lives and dies on its proprietors’ ability to deep, languid atmosphere, and Dancing In The Dust presents no cause for concern. Hell, on the title track with its lockstep darkwave pound, there’s already a capacity for more beyond the basics.
Still, Graywave aren’t running before they can walk here. Had they tried to, things likely wouldn’t have turned out quite as strongly as they do. The EP’s best ideas come in small additions drawn out to be subtly effective—the sawing texture that reverberates through the middle of Dark Spell, or the guitar shimmer bisected by razor-wire synths on Undone. That’s the kind of stuff that really magnetises Graywave, though the breaking waves of guitar and pleasantly rhythm section definitely help. Put it all together, and Dancing In The Dust puts any notion of ‘pastiche’ to bed rather immediately. There’s absolutely a clear and defined goal at the end of all this, even it is simply ‘be as big as Deftones’. With Jess Webberley’s vocals having the requisite ghostliness and otherworldliness—while also showing shades of a more conventional darkness in alternative music—they could easily get there.
And while it’s clear that certain parts of Graywave are currently a work in progress, that’s not a kneecapping realisation. Nothing here feels shoddy or incomplete; for a relatively new band, it’s exceptionally executed. Plus, it’s always a cool sound to hear done right, and to potentially find some runway outside of the underground. For Graywave specifically, that’s a bit limited at this stage, but Dancing In The Dust could be where that changes. The pieces are there, as is some clear determination and acumen whizzing up a storm beneath the surface. If the stars align just right, this could pay off in suitably grandiose fashion.
For fans of: Deftones, Loathe, Slow Crush
‘Dancing In The Dust’ by Graywave is released on 31st May on Church Road Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
