Adam Bentley and Lee Albrecht did a decent job mixing and producing the EP. The vocals are not buried under the instruments, the bass is deep and heavy without overpowering everything else, and the guitars are quite clear. At times, the snare drum can be a little softer than I’d like, but that’s just a small nitpick. As for the project as a whole, I felt like this EP served more as a vehicle for Lauren to market herself and her skills, as seen on “I’m Bored” where she bounces between several vocal styles on just one track. I can’t fault her for it, considering you need to find ways to rise to the top in a heavily saturated genre, but it does weigh the EP down a bit. I think with future releases Lauren will be more focused and not feel this need to “prove” herself – a notion that is incredulous considering the hundreds of songs she has been featured on that clearly prove her abilities. I’m very interested to see where Lauren goes from here with more of a focus on writing original songs for herself rather than in a band environment or doing covers of other musician’s work.

It seems like everyone in the Metalcore community that loved the massive success of Spiritbox’s breakout 2021 hit album, Eternal Blue, has been holding their breath with anticipation to see if the next full-length album could be lightning in a bottle like the first record (myself included!). I can say now with no doubt in my mind that Tsunami Sea is the rare exception to the Sophomore Slump rule/expectation and is a perfect companion album to Eternal Blue. I don’t make that claim lightly, as Eternal Blue is one of my favorite albums of this past decade. Tsunami Sea could be a strong contender to gain entry on this list after several more listens and time to marinate on it. This album feels darker and more pained than Eternal Blue despite Tsunami Sea containing more melody than the former, but don’t be fooled by Courtney’s clean vocals!

Whitechapel’s ninth album is finally upon us, and it is a barrage of crunchy guitars, pummeling drums, and feral screams that melt your face over the course of 43 minutes. Hymns in Dissonance sees the band return to their roots after growing as songwriters, trying their hand at some melody with their last two albums (both critically and commercially successful), and looking to silence any overly critical fans that felt the band was “going soft” or selling out. I wasn’t necessarily one of those fans who felt negative during that time (I adore The Valley), but I did feel like the band took the wrong lessons from The Valley and applied them to Kin. When it comes to melody in a band like Whitechapel, less is more, which was not the case with Kin. On Hymns in Dissonance though, the songs are brutal to the point they rattle your skull. Phil refrains from singing here and instead the band delivers an album that reminds me of the “old days” of This is Exile and The Somatic Defilement. This album feels like the band returning to reclaim the Deathcore throne after venturing into different Metal genre blends, reminding us all that Whitechapel is still one of the best Deathcore bands to ever do it.

Six long years have passed since Killswitch Engage released their 8th album: Atonement. I spent that time craving new music from the band, hoping we’d see a return to the incredible songwriting that not only put the band on the map but also placed them on the Mount Rushmore of Metalcore. As the singles were released, my interest waned. What I was hearing sounded bland, flavorless, and like more of the same Metalcore music we’ve been hearing for years now. After sitting down with the full album, I can see that the band certainly held back on the greatest treasures This Consequence had to offer. The record's first half is not memorable and is a bit of a drag, while the second half feels like an entirely different album, filled with the aggression and heaviness the band has become known for. The songwriting is much more brutal and tighter with killer riffs that don’t put you to sleep like the first half.

Being a fan of All That Remains is like being in an abusive relationship; They have moments where they impress you, then disappoint you, then you swear they can change, only for them to fail you again. It’s a vicious cycle that I’m too familiar with when it comes to this band. All That Remains over the years has become one of the most inconsistent bands in Metalcore, releasing what I consider a masterpiece one second (The Fall of Ideals), incredible records like Overcome and For We Are Many, and then mediocre albums like The Order of Things, Madness, and now AntiFragile. I expected to be disappointed based on the band’s history and the singles they put out, but I at least hoped the record would be better than the one we got. At least the album is heavy though, right?