Oh boy—more industry plant discourse!
To be fair, Showing Teeth’s run has been so full-throttle so quickly that you can’t begrudge some raised eyebrows. This is an act whose debut single Labyrinth only came out late last year and already boasted contributions from scene maestro Zakk Cervini, plus Matt Helpern from Periphery lending his talents on drums. From there…live cameos with Motionless In White, Beartooth and Static Dress; an appearance at Bring Me The Horizon’s momentous Count Your Blessings anniversary shows; an opening slot for fellow dubious rocketeers PRESIDENT to come. It’s been laid on very thick for the first year of activity, hasn’t it?
The truth, however, seems a lot more mundane for the age that we live in. Showing Teeth is the musical alias of Addison Surname-Unrevealed, who started off on TikTok posting metal covers in her car, as well as ‘relatable’ ‘alternative’ ‘humour’ and taking (unjustifiably) playful jabs at Ronnie Radke. (Incidentally, that makes her one of the only people on the planet to comment at Radke’s expense and not have him crash out over it.) That’s all now been parlayed into Showing Teeth, emerging with a built-in audience to raise the hackles of scene stalwarts everywhere. Apologies to waste any freshly-sharpened pitchforks, but this does seem generally above board, even if it’s not the preferred method of blowing up.
But even upon reconciling with that, there’s still a disconnect. It’s almost like a step has been skipped, between acknowledging Addison’s capability to be a world-beater and already treating it as so. And with all the pressure on this debut EP that that inevitably generates, you get something that can’t possibly live up to expectations. Showing Teeth has been thrown in at the absolute deepest end, and what is there to show for it? An okay metalcore release with a genuinely strong vocal performance, and the feeling that there’s still a sizable chunk of work to do.
In terms of Addison herself, there are few complaints. This is someone who’s clearly been honing and perfecting her vocal technique and repertoire for a long time, and A Fate Worse Than Loneliness is all the better for it. Opener Bad Exchanges slips between metalcore and deathcore screaming styles with impressive tactility; Labyrinth follows, this time going from blood-spraying snarls to the sweetest, most melodious singing imaginable. It’s not an entirely comfortable gearshift, but demonstrations of range rarely encompass this kind of distance. It carries shades of Poppy, especially in songs like Make It Out and Rip where the dichotomy is less rigid. There’s also sincerity prized over uncanniness, which is a much better fit for Addison as a performer. It’s shown off excellently on the closer Paradigm, a big, glossy pop-metal number with crystalline vocals and screams used sparingly, but with great efficacy.
Built into A Fate Worse Than Loneliness is the idea that Addison could, indeed, have the chops to reach the level deigned upon her. It’s not now, though, and the EP itself makes that pretty clear. At best, it’s a very good audition reel for that, laying out snippets of Addison’s excellence and acumen as evidence. More realistically, though, Showing Teeth has the feel of an act that wants to appear big, knows the roundabout way of how to look and act the part, but hasn’t worked out the finer details yet. It’s a very piecemeal showcase that earmarks Addison as ‘a good voice’ without much else. And yet, that belief persists, to the point where it can overstep. A lot of the big bands have a track like A&Ox1, where a phone message from a loved one provides a calm, introspective interlude. Here, it’s Addison’s grandmother imparting some folksy wisdom, but when it sounds like she’s reading from cue cards the entire time, it makes for an exceptionally forced inclusion.
More chronic is the instrumentation. It, too, is swinging for those big metalcore pops without much long-term sturdiness on its side. Bad Exchanges is a great example, as swatches of metalcore and deathcore initially land with heft and refuse to stick. Across this entire EP, there’s not one heavy moment with adequate staying power, or that feels borne from Showing Teeth specifically. Perhaps that’d be asking too much under normal circumstances, but the weight of hype for this EP brings that into sharp focus. Musically, A Fate Worse Than Loneliness doesn’t add anything of its own to modern metal; it’s just in the scene, aggregated in an unavoidable way. If anything, its pop turns are its most unique features, because at least they commit fully to what they are. It’s another reason that Paradigm hits much stronger—it’s a pop song with a metal trim, not the other way around.
By the end of it, it’s not that Showing Teeth has nothing to offer, but the magnitude of it has been grossly hyperbolised at this early stage. This is very much still an act finding its feet, thrust into a prospective leadership role far too early. And that isn’t Addison’s fault; remove fawning hype from the equation and this would be a perfectly alright debut, maybe even above average. But with industry eyes beating down so early, and almost forcing Showing Teeth to present as bigger and more important than it can qualify, it’s a losing fight from the very beginning. They’ll probably do well and reach a point where they deserve it, but fast-tracking that through brute force isn’t helping anyone.
For fans of: Dying Wish, Poppy, Bring Me The Horizon
‘A Fate Worse Than Loneliness’ by Showing Teeth is released on 4th September on Spinefarm Records / Republic Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
