Cane Hill "A Piece Of Me I Never Let You Find" (2024)

 

Leaning into their aggressive side, Cane Hill return with a refined amalgamation of the Nu Metal revival, drifting towards the extremes of Hardcore Djent akin to Thrown. Doused in an aesthetic exhilaration similar to an emerging Argent Metal, the band struggle in harmonizing their loud quiet dynamics. A slew of bombastic, even barbaric, syncopated rhythmic riffs stand in contrast to the melodic charms of Elijah Witt. His presence heals the record, offering gleams of uplift in intensity lulls, as infectious crooning hooks bring an emotive memorability to its incessant "over the top" hostility.

The enthusiastic bounce and groove of Nu Metal's influence feels absent as low end guitars churn out harsh brutalities. Routinely focusing on meaty slabs of slamming Djent tone, they lack any character to shape up a songs heavier aspects. As a result, we embark on a cycling slog through empty onslaughts of crunching guitar noise. Spliced with sporadic fret sounds, layered with subtle dystopian synths, the most expressive moments arrive in the big chords left to ring out under clean vocal breaks.

Left to spin in the background, this record simply drifts by. Its hooky breaks grabbing ones attention every time. On closer analysis, these tend to be the only moments that create memorability. Thus its best comes from the soft moody interludes and Witt's clean break outs. Permanence In Sleep and I Always Knew We Were Do have the best choruses, a delight when they arrive. A Piece Of Me I Never Let You Find crudely pushes senseless violence together with a charactered emotional magnetism, falling short on writing memorable songs in the process.

Rating: 6/10

Currents "The Death We Seek" (2023)

  

Seeking another record under the emerging Argent Metal label, I've landed with Currents' latest effort. The American outfit play Progressive melodic Metalcore tinged with Deathcore growls in their heavy outbursts. With a Djent adjacent sound, the dense wall of sound production occasionally strike hard, as Industrial synths and electronic oscillators chime in for that violent dystopian Mick Gordan inspired menace.

Ultimately however, The Death We Seek has a far more artistic vision in wait. Swinging between creative curated atmospheres of expressive epic and blunt force strikes of shunting aggression, the band forge a steady listen plunging into darkly places and offering respite to this desolate place the band conjure visions of.

The usual foray of chugging riffs and low end guitars are met with guttural growls and throaty screams. Decent by design, the spark emerges when these sudden shifts into the light arise. Aided by vocalist Brian Wille's soaring cleans, plucky melodies shift its unending intensity into uplifting strides, still chained to an overriding sense of doom.

On one level, the musical foundations seem rather atypical for this particulate niche of modern Metalcore. On another, the thick aesthetic craft and engaging songwriting amounts to a memorable experience. Distinct and consistent across its ten track, I found myself unable to pick favorite tracks, enjoying the record as a single entity. The Death We Seek isn't quite an Argent Metal record but in moments they do incorporate the hardened rhythmic ideals and synthetic aesthetics to great effect. 

Rating: 7/10

Silent Planet "Superbloom" (2023)

 

Here's an interesting release labeled under the emerging Argent Metal genre. For their fifth outing, Progressive Metalcore outfit Silent Planet pivot to a Djent driven aesthetic redesign of brutality, envisioned by producer Mick Gordan with his iconic Doom soundtrack eight years back. Shades of the bands Metalcore origins mostly remain in vocalist Garrett Russel's raging throaty shouts and bitting lyrical cadence. Otherwise, they have fully embraced a fusion of low end guitars with Industrial synths to layer on dense, rhythmic shunting of force as the driving component in the music.

Superbloom has a clear artistic vision I haven't fully clicked with, an aesthetic smothering, powerful and intense yet often lacking melody and memorability. Its meaty slabs of rhythmic assault seem to miss out on the groove or elastic sway others like Meshuggah have used to bring me around. Behind theese jolting punts of guitar noise, darkly synths lay interwoven, reinforcing momentum and often providing a luminous sense of color. Its sadly just aesthetic dressing in absence of melody. Occasionally swift arpeggios emerge, or swelling chords but always lacking a hook.

The best moments come in climaxes, where intensity surges with a luminous stream of color blooming through its dense synth design. A peak blesses the album on its title track conclusion, tying a bow on its conceptual nature as "I'll rest for now in the Superbloom" leads into a stunning glide of epic proportion. These ascending sections were my favorites among a looping slog of sporadic fret-board leaping riffs that carried little meaning beyond the fist throwing aggressions of jolting Djent guitars.

In conclusion, I've spent enough time to acknowledge Superbloom's class yet find myself not fully sold on this new aesthetic direction. Its gorgeous to listen to but the songwriting suffers as its tracks drift into mood, rather than casting one under its spell to march to its beat. The idea of Argent Metal has its merits but until it delivers something truly innovative in terms of song writing, it will mostly feel like cosmetics.

Rating: 6/10