DevilDriver
Strike And Kill
…we’re never getting Outlaws ‘Til The End, Vol. 2, are we? Sure, the first wasn’t well-liked, but ‘metal covers of outlaw country songs’ is a more concrete idea than DevilDriver had before or since. You might as well rename this Dealing With Demons III, such is the lack of differentiation between now and the last couple of times.
So, yeah—Strike And Kill: it’s a DevilDriver album. A flabby one at that. These things are hardly svelte at the best of times, but this one feels notably more bloated. It’s not too hard to see why, either, when, once again, DevilDriver are back on their usual grind that leaves little room for deviation. By the time you reach Summoning Shadows that sees fit to anchor itself in acoustics (and, even then, can’t commit to it for the whole track), you’re ten songs in. And while DevilDriver’s formula still essentially works—slamming groove-metal designed to echo Dez Fafara’s aggro levels—it gets to a point where you question how much is actually left in the tank.
There are no real highlights or standouts to speak of; it’s just more of this. Across thirteen tracks, you’re getting another whistlestop tour around the DevilDriver enterprise, like, half-a-dozen times over. They don’t necessarily sound tired or teased-out while doing it, but nor is this an efficient listen, or one that’s pushing itself in any way. It leaves Strike And Kill as an inessential piece of a catalogue that’s racking up a lot of those these days. Even a DevilDriver diehard could look at this and think it’s getting a bit much now. Genuinely, the only solution now might be putting the cowboy hats back on, because this sauceless existence of DevilDriver is doing nothing of note.
For fans of: Chimaira, Mudvayne, Machine Head
‘Strike And Kill’ by DevilDriver is released on 10th July on Napalm Records.
Au/Ra
heartcore
Au/Ra is going into this debut album already as a known artist, inasmuch as anyone is ‘known’ when their career highs are as the vocalist on house tracks. Panic Room was originally her own song, though CamelPhat’s reworking eclipsed her credit as the lead. Meanwhile, I Miss You comes purely from within Jax Jones’ own dance-pop wheelhouse. In reality, Au/Ra fits more among the sect of Bring Me The Horizon-orbiting dark-poppers. On a debut in which escaping mental torment is presented through the lens of a dungeon-crawler, you can certainly read that vibe.
And as is also often the case, heartcore has its moments, but is more impressive for its creator’s commitment to the theme. The cybernetic dark-fantasy mood and Au/Ra’s gentler vocals within it are really engaging; when the videogame-ness of it all is thrust into the text of SWAMP and Lo/Re, it couldn’t be less so. In typical fashion for a longer, genre-fluid alt-pop album, heartcore’s peaks and troughs are in full effect, though it’s better at standing out, to Au/Ra’s credit. The pop jerk of KILLSWITCH and guitar-churned affectivity of princess mononoke and E-MOTION are great examples of this album’s range, blanketed by its theme and style but able to stand on their own, too.
heartcore, then, ultimately gets plenty out of its ambitiousness, particularly next to its sonic peers. Au/Ra still shows a need for added tweaks and polish, but that’s not some make-or-break factor here. It’d only improve what’s already good—a cogent vision that’s well-explored, along with songs that simultaneously forward said vision, stand on their own and clear possible avenues for where to go next. That’s quite a lot achieved within a field that often wears its exceptionalism with undue merit. Au/Ra, on the other hand, could be onto something a lot more noteworthy.
For fans of: Halsey, Mothica, PVRIS
‘heartcore’ by Au/Ra is out now on Polydor Records.
No Cure
It Is Going To Get Dark
“How did we get here?” begins No Cure’s new album, a valid question when, only a year and a half ago, hardcore’s newest hotly-tipped supremos were primarily focused on the societal and ecological degradation of their Alabama home. That’s a niche that appears fairly gated from blowing up in the wider hardcore ecosystem, which is where the thrill of I Hope I Die Here stemmed from. No Cure presented themselves unapologetically as tied to their roots, and explored that in a way that can be seldom seen. So, in broadening that out to the world at large for It Is Going To Get Dark, there’s perhaps a little less unerring edge here. Not entirely less—the 50-second song called I Am Still Fucking Straight Edge is a statement all on its own—but enough to notice.
Then again, an album drawing from the still-fertile well of Knocked Loose always has a place in the modern scene. On top of that, No Cure’s death metal tone hasn’t gone anywhere, either. You’re still subject to one hell of a battering from It Is Going To Get Dark, curated in fine stead by No Cure. Blaythe Steuer continues to wreck house as a vocalist, empowered by the titanium conviction in his delivery. Ironclad can work as both a straight-edge anthem and a bruising alpha-male affirmation. Elsewhere, there’s no shortage of additional slobberknockers fuelled by the soul-crushing state of everything and anything.
Within the parameters of metallic hardcore, No Cure have still got some really impactful stuff under their belt. Efforts to break out produce a pretty so-so rap verse from Jayway on Brain Matter Displacement, but otherwise? It’s a hard album to quibble with. Most of the time, you never even feel the ‘steps back’, and simply get swept up in how well No Cure know their way around a beatdown. That’s a pretty irrefutable sign of what’s to come moving forward.
For fans of: Knocked Loose, Harms Way, Boundaries
‘It Is Going To Get Dark’ by No Cure is released on 10th July on Sharptone Records.
Red Method
As In Life
D’you reckon this multi-legged metal band with costumes, stage names, dark, intense themes and a singer dropping distinctly Corey Taylor-esque vocals is inspired by anyone in particular? Nah, surely ‘Knot!
In all seriousness, though, if you are looking for something new and Slipknot-y to dig into, Red Method could well be that. ‘Dig into’ is right, as well; despite only being six-tracks long, As In Life is a pretty dense thing. Five of them handily eclipse five minutes, and in a way which perhaps isn’t the most economical. If there’s an era of Slipknot Proper that Red Method align with, it’s the more recent stuff, where unstrung mania is grasped at and implied, rather than properly reached. Longer songs just don’t get there in the same way; they simply aren’t as compact or potent as they need to be.
Taken as a selection of more standard metal cuts, though, As In Life sees much greater success. Thick groove-metal sporting an industrial coat embossed with scratches and eerie vocal samples is an easy win. Add on a production style that doesn’t skimp on its brutality (see James Perry’s drums on Detonate that could shatter through a steel wall), and the makings of a really solid modern metal outfit are there with Red Method. J S.A.N.G.R.E’s vocals, too, are just versatile enough to carry them into more than perpetual bottom-half-of-the-Bloodstock-lineup territory. They aren’t there yet—some slimming down would benefit them greatly—but As In Life points in the right directions regardless.
For fans of: Slipknot, The Defiled, Mudvayne
‘As In Life’ by Red Method is released on 17th July on Depraved Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
