Review Summary: Various ice cream flavours/brands. If you like ice cream you like ice cream.
PHASES is another trend following 2022 metalcore release. Pop and hip-hop meets delicious production with all the tricks, whistles and gizmos. This motif of metalcore is starting to wear thin, but October Ends do their best to have some fun with it. There’s a handful of great riffs, catchy hooks, and decent breakdowns to keep the energy high. The production ties it all together, with auto-tuned vocals so electronic they practically sound like the guitars themselves. It’s a smooth flowing experience for sure, and fans of metalcore albums - with more in common with butt rock - will enjoy this album. It’s a legit choice to sound like this but their sound is transparently safe, and thus beginneth gripes. They’re great at following trends but not necessarily as good at making them work.
Awkward is a sufficient describer for this release. The hip-hop segments often feel forced, maybe because the rapping sounds passionless. Yet half the album is rapping, like Hollywood Undead meets I See Stars’ song All In. It’s not terrible, but it also doesn’t add anything of creative value, essentially, it sounds like a desperate attempt for commercial success. It gets worse though, for you see, October Ends wish to be the catch all of music. Gangster popcore turns out as cringe inducing as expected, with moments that truly made me scratch my head. As it goes with albums like this, some songs are better, with some much worse. Hero is entirely skippable, with a man using auto-tune to survive.
There’s no way in hell PHASES deserves a high rating. Compared to bands of their type, October Ends bring endless pop hooks, but the metal front is less compelling. There was one song that brought riffs like leftovers from Monuments and Born Of Osiris, but aside from that the riffs are generally pretty average. The focus is on catchy songs with pleasant melodies and generally it works, but once again, the cringey moments are massively distracting. The band are better off when they play to their mainstream tendencies, much like Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows.
Funnily enough, I enjoyed this album a bit. It’s absolutely derivative, it’s completely angsty with some terrible lyrics, and somehow it works. The singing was usually on the money, and the breakdowns are surprisingly fun. If you can turn off your critical brain a second you’ll get caught in the catchiness and probably enjoy the silky smooth tracks. Congrats boys, you win this round.
