Underoath - Voyeurist (2022)

Country: USA
Style: Post-Hardcore/Metalcore
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 14 Jan 2022
Sites: Facebook | Instagram | Metal Archives | Official Website | Twitter | Wikipedia | YouTube

Underoath have been around for a while now, this being their ninth studio album and, from what I understand, they've moved gradually away from the metalcore they started out playing at the tail end of the previous millennium towards a very different post-hardcore sound. I'm not a particular fan of metalcore but I'm listening to a lot of post-hardcore and finding the genre as fascinating as it is elusive. I'm still figuring out how to define it and not getting very far.

I'm getting far enough to know that this album opens up as metalcore, with Damn Excuses, gets a lot more catchy with Hallelujah and then shifts completely into post-hardcore with I'm Pretty Sure I'm Out of Luck and Have No Friends. These aren't long songs, only ten minutes having passed with three song over, but the difference between the first and third is massive. Certainly, the variety is what makes the album interesting to me. Forty minutes of Damn Excuses would have bored me. In a two and a half minute chunk, it's one welcome texture of many.

While Damn Excuses is straight metalcore and I'm Pretty Sure is straight post-hardcore, the most interesting songs are ones that mix those approaches. Thorn is a real highlight for me, because it moves back and forth between those two seemingly incompatible approaches. It starts out like it wants to be post-hardcore, quickly erupts into metalcore and then backs off considerably in order to find something far more unique. By halfway, I was caught up in the quirky beat and electronica. Sure, there's some screaming going on at points, but it works as contrast.

Take a Breath is another highlight. It manages to be urgent and driving without turning up those screams, which I appreciated. I like the dynamic play that mixes the quieter moments and heavier ones to create something far more interesting than either. Even a frequently metalcore song like Numb benefits from that to a degree and more ambitious songs like Thorn and Pneumonia thrive on it, even if the latter takes its time, given that it has over seven minutes to develop, or double a majority of the other songs here. It's certainly ambitious and its second half is wild.

While my taste tells me that I don't want to review trendy American bands, my mission statement tells me that I should keep my mind open and try them out. Sometimes that backfires and I cringe my way through part of an album before giving up in horror. Sometimes an album shocks the heck out of me because it really wasn't what I expected at all. And sometimes, like here, I join in at the point where a band has achieved an enviable level of success but refuses to just churn out more of the same. They continue to evolve and in a direction that I appreciate.

So, while it's very possible that I wouldn't enjoy early Underoath much at all, I got a lot more than I expected out of this ninth album and I'm likely to enjoy them more and more with each release. I do see that they're not massively prolific, this being only their second album since 2010, though it seems that they split up for a couple of years during that period. All power to them and I'll happily check out another album in a few years time to see how far their evolution has progressed by that point.

Bursters - Once and for All (2020)

Country: South Korea
Style: Post-Hardcore
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 28 Mar 2020
Sites: Facebook | Wikipedia | YouTube

I'm listing this Bursters album as post-hardcore, even though I continue to struggle to define that genre, but you'll see it as others, partly because they hail from South Korea. You've heard of K-Pop? Well, this is K-Rock, its younger and harder musical cousin. I've seen Bursters listed as a boy band, but that may be because of their carefully manufactured looks rather than a musical reason. These guys really play real instruments and don't remotely sound like a New Kids on the Block or a One Direction. I've seen alternative hardcore, which makes sense. I've even seen heavy rock, though I wouldn't go there.

What surprised me about this is how much I like it, given that a majority of the influences are from places I don't like.

I've talked here before about how shouty hardcore vocals are my very least favourite style from the entire rock/metal spectrum. Well, that's just what Roh Jaegun uses here, and with real emphasis too. He does calm down now and then, to whisper at us vehemently or even just sing cleanly. Smell the Rot, which opens up the album, is primarily a hardcore song.

Barriers, which follows it, gets much more diverse, but by trawling in other American influences, mostly pop punk but a little nu metal too. Now, it's a hard task not to enjoy pop punk, however annoying it can be, but nu metal is my very least favourite style from the entire rock/metal spectrum. Are you catching my surprise now?

The band detailed their influences to Kerrang! magazine. Roh talks up Bullet for My Valentine and My Chemical Romance. Guitarist Lee Gyejin raises Linkin Park. Bass player Jo Hwanhee adds Limp Bizkit and Korn. Only the drummer, Jo Taehee raises bands I actually appreciate, calling out Mike Mangini of Dream Theater and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin as influences. That explains why I'm more a fan of the drums than anything else here but I never expected to like anything influenced by Limp Bizkit or Korn.

Maybe it's partly the energy that's working for me, as hinted at by the name of the band. There's a heck of a lot of energy here and it manifests in many different ways. Barriers is a bouncy song. Hero boasts a fantastic riff and a catchy chorus, as well as some great moments for a bassist, Jo conjuring a Flea comparison with a few runs.

Things also get a lot poppier than I expected from those influences, even if Coldplay did show up on that list too. Colors kicks off with a choral part before becoming a jangly guitar pop anthem, a little reminiscent of U2 back in the good old days. The title track is a similarly anthemic and jangly pop number, but with Korean lyrics as well as English and a proggier sound back behind the hooks. The pair of Dreamer songs add a patient piano and enticing liquid electronica around the pop drive and emo screams.

And that's not to say that everything here is either pop or the sort of rock that comes from terrible influences. Perhaps what I like most is that there isn't a single sound here to define Bursters. There are a generous fourteen songs on offer and the band explore a lot of musical territory. Here I Am is the most traditional metal song, getting its speed on at one point and going back to Iron Maiden riffs at another. The electronica is far from overdone, adding textures here and there. There's even a reggae vibe in Give and Take and a lounge section in Savage, ladies and gentlemen.

So, for a band who seem to like all the music that I don't, I find it rather hard to dislike Bursters. I can't imagine hauling this out often but they do what they do well and I wish them all the best in conquering the west in the same way K-Pop seems to have done.

Osatia - All in Time (2019)

Country: USA
Style: Post-Hardcore
Rating: 6/10
Release Date: 31 May 2019
Sites: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

Those of you following my journey through the whole spectrum of rock music at Apocalypse Later will be aware of my complete lack of understanding of what the genre called post-hardcore actually is. The releases I've reviewed haven't helped much, verging from the schizophrenic screamo of Famous Last Words to the schizophrenic prog of Borders of Byzantium. There's more to it than schizophrenic, I'm sure.

The core of the genre seems to be an experimental approach to the energy of hardcore, which means that singers don't always scream and their music veers from pop to metal and back, sometimes within the same song. Osatia fit that bill nicely, sounding rather like a progressive pop band with vocals from a singer, Alex Pasibe, whom I was rather shocked to discover is male. That's no dig, by the way. His vocals are high and feminine but very capable and they're the best advert for Osatia, even if there are tinges of autotune.

That hardcore energy is definitely there, but there's nothing else here to remind of hardcore. Pasibe is a alternative rock singer, delivering clean vocals, even when he screams, which isn't too often. The drums are playful but driving and there are a wealth of electronic textures behind the band that flavour what they do.

Frankly, the biggest problem with the album is that it's short. Unlike the Vader EP I reviewed on Friday, this is supposedly full length but it doesn't even reach the half hour mark and it boasts only seven three or four minute songs with an acoustic version of We Care for good measure. That's a mini-album in my book.

Oddly, it's this acoustic track that defines the album. Rather than being a translation of a song into an acoustic style, as is so often the case, it's very much the regular punky We Care, two songs earlier on the album, merely quieter and softer, which ably highlights how any heaviness apparent in Osatia's sound is just another layer that can be easily taken away without damaging their material in the slightest.

Maybe that's why I'm thinking of this as Taylor Swift meets U2 but given a crunch and an energy through prominent drumming and power chords. That goes double for songs like The Inevitable, which is a heavy pop song in the same way that Babymetal play heavy kawaii pop. Personally, I much prefer Osatia loud and energetic and the opening couple of songs epitomise that.

First up is the title track, with its jangling melody and crunchy bedrock. It's emphatically in your face stuff, taking its "Keep on fighting!" lyric to heart, even when it quietens down. Atlantis is even better, a dissonant guitar and a melodic keyboard combining to make a tasty backing for Pasibe. It's energetic but experimental too and it's easily my favourite track on the album.

The middle of the album sounds very similar to me except for The Inevitable. Lose My Number, Anxiety and We Care all play at a similar pace and with a similar outlook. If you like one, you'll like all of them and, frankly, you'll like the rest of the album too. On the flipside, if you don't like the first one you find, this isn't going to be for you. Wasting My Life gets a little more screamo to wrap up the core album but it's not out of place.

And maybe this highlights the other negative side, that its experimentation is rather consistently applied and not particularly deep. Sure, it has the energy of hardcore and it has a neat combination of sounds, especially with the keyboard layers, but that's as experimental as it gets. So much for my latest definition of post-hardcore! All in time, I guess.

Famous Last Words - Arizona (2019)

Country: USA
Style: Post-Hardcore
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 17 May 2019
Sites: Facebook | Twitter | Wikipedia

OK, I had to review this, given that the EP is called Arizona, even though Famous Last Words ironically appear to not be stopping here on the tour to support it. It's hardly my usual genre, though I've tagged it post-hardcore because it doesn't stay in any one style for long. Wikipedia adds metalcore and symphonic metal to that. I can hear Metal Archives laughing at the mere suggestion that this is metal, but Spirit of Metal list them as screamo.

I should add that they're not from Arizona, hailing instead from Petoskey, MI, which is a heck of a long way away. Why they went for Arizona as their EP title, I have no idea, unless it was to use sun drenched cover art that looks a lot more like Death Valley than anything in this state. There's no song called Arizona or anything like it. The titles follow the usual naming convention for screamo bands.

Runaways, which opens things up, is the quietest song on offer, much closer to the post-hardcore tag than anything else here. Where it comes into play elsewhere is because none of these songs fall into one category. One minute JT is screaming to the teenagers in the front row, the next he's singing in a clean pop voice and, before long, he'll add some effects to sound like a third singer. He isn't my thing but he does this very well. No wonder they have a Wikipedia page.

The band behind him is just as schizophrenic. A lot of the time they're in alternative rock mode, with a controlled beat and a steady bass while Evan Foley's guitar does whatever it's doing at any point in time. He has a lot of effects pedals, I think and, just as JT switches from style to style on the turn of a dime, Foley's guitar finds a different sound on every track. Tyler Myklebust, the band's former rhythm guitarist who's now on bass has all sorts of fun trying to stay with whatever tempo is in play at any point in time, which Cody Paige drives on the drums.

What surprised me most is that they don't play the verses at one speed and then ramp up to scream the chorus before backing down again. They speed up and slow down every time the wind changes direction. Whenever the beat has an idea to go frantic, everyone follows suit for another screamfest but it might last for a minute or just for mere seconds. It's unpredictable, which I appreciated.

This all sounds far too trendy for me (hey, I can't find an official website but every member of the band has his own Instagram page), which surely reflects as much on me as it does on Famous Last Words, but the band do seem very capable. I liked all the variety but don't have the background in these styles to point out comparisons. The only one that came up for me was an Emilie Autumn chorus in Scream, but frankly I'd be surprised if that's where they got the idea from. I'm sure the target audience will know what the band sound like (or don't).

What's most telling is that I still have no idea why this is called Arizona. And I still have no idea where that symphonic metal tag finds relevance.

Borders of Byzantium - Odyssey (2019)

Country: Hungary
Style: Post-Hardcore
Rating: 6/10
Release Date: 8 Mar 2019
Sites: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

I was in an interesting discussion last weekend. My eldest son, who's a big fan of Alice Cooper, mentioned that his wife listens to screamo. She looked at him like he'd just arrived from a distant planet; she doesn't listen to screamo. she said, utterly puzzled that he'd even suggest such a thing. And, given that the only album of hers I've heard is by the Pretty Reckless, who are variously described as alternative rock, blues and post-grunge, I might be confused too. I'm still unsure as to what she thinks she listens to but the lesson is that genre labels can be problematic.

Case in point: Borders of Byzantium, who hail from Budapest in Hungary and tend to be described as post-hardcore. Now, apparently I've been failing to realise what post-hardcore is. I'd figured that if post-rock was all about creating soundscapes with traditional rock instruments, then post-hardcore must be about creating soundscapes using aggressive music and shouty vocals, which didn't sound appetizing to me at all.

Fortunately, that's not what it is and I'm very happy for this wake up call because I kind of like this. Now I need to ask my daughter-in-law if this is what she really listens to and, if it is, whether I can borrow her collection.

To me, the only evidence of hardcore here is in the shouty vocals of Bence Joó, of which I'm not particularly fond even though he does it well. That's just me; I've never been a fan of that style. The four musicians who play behind him and Marcell Oláh, who handles the clean vocals, don't sound like a hardcore band to me in the slightest. If I'd been asked to describe them blind, I'd have gone with heavy alternative rock or light progressive metal.

Wikipedia tells me that post-hardcore is a punk rock genre that "maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore" but "emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression". There's certainly creative expression here, with the musical palette explored ranging all the way from Depeche Mode to Dream Theater, with a lot more of the latter than the former.

Initially, they're very progressive, with Alive led by the drums of Kristóf Tóth and the neat interplay between the two vocalists. There's interesting guitarwork in there too, behind them, though using a lot less notes than a prog metal band would use. The Same Old Game moves from soft keyboards to a bouncy riff and bouncier pulsing electronica, complete with hand claps. It's new wave with a crunch. Fortified adds a chanting vocal that hints at rap before launching an catchy chorus.

That's three different approaches in three songs and the rest of the album pretty much combines those in different ways. The only songs to really take a different approach are Like Flies and the album's closer, Drawn Circles, which are softer by a degree and generally driven by textured keyboards but for the moments when they decide to get epic. They're like synth pop songs that dream of power.

Like Flies is surely my least favourite song on the album and it's telling that it's followed by Two Sides, probably the heaviest track on offer, that would be metalcore with a different sound mix and with less Oláh and a lot more Joó. This band does like to keep it fresh. They've said that the band name was inspired by the diversity of the Byzantine Empire, which they like to emulate in what they call a "genre-bending musical style".

I surprised myself by enjoying this rather a lot. Not all these tracks are as catchy as they think they are and some of them sound rather similar to others, even as there's an agreeably diversity within them. They obviously put a lot of effort into creating contrasts too and I liked that. There's a lot of hard vs. soft, metal vs. rock and clean vs. shouty and that elevates the album considerably.

Clearly I need to listen to more post-hardcore to get an idea of what it's all about. Borders of Byzantium are a promising start. Maybe they're the beginning of another odyssey for me.