Review Summary: Pure Metalcore Bliss!
At heart, I’ll always be a corekid and I’ll always defend metalcore and deathcore from those who see it as a lesser musical genre. Miss May I come from an era of bands that leaned more into the ‘metal’ side of metalcore with riffs heavily influenced by earlier 2000’s bands like Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall while also implementing the melodic and technical guitarwork of Swedish melodeath titans like At The Gates and In Flames. Their previous record “Shadows Inside” released five years ago featured a switch towards more melody and less aggression, seeing the inclusion of slower more ambient tracks and more ballad-like cuts. But now Miss May I are back with more of that hard hitting metalcore bliss which now features a bit more modern sounding production, lower tuned guitars and a bigger presence of electronics and string arrangements.
The album commences with “A Smile That Does Not Exist” which hits hard with big guitar riffs, melodic leads and Levi’s iconic vocal work. Lyrical, this record seems caught in a battle between internal negativity, depression, anxiety and other negative emotions and overcoming these obstacles and human strife for survival. Statements like “In the mirror, a blank stare/No one’s there, no one cares/I pretend that we share/A smile that does not exist,” make it clear the internal struggle that our protagonist lyricist is dealing with. A common theme with Miss May I records is the desire to persevere and empower through strength of mind and these songs are indicative or that with the ending lyrics to the same song being “Lay your demons to rest/It’s only in your head/Breathe in, breathe out/It’s always in your head.”
The dueling guitar dynamics between BJ and Justin have always been a massive draw to this project considering the tasty leadwork that laces a majority of their tracks along with the chug pattern work of the rhythmist. Look no further than the subsequent track “Earth Shaker” which features a very addictive lead riff in the intro followed by some aggressive chant style vocal patterns in the verse. Bassist and clean vocalist Ryan Neff also does a stellar job throughout the record with creating massive vocal hooks in the choruses that are memorable and varietal. “Earth Shaker” also features a massive breakdown payoff at the end of the track which as a big ole metalcore stan, is exactly what I want in a track like this.
One important thing I’d also like to discuss is the crystal clear, punchy production work of the masterful Will Putney of Fit for An Autopsy and END fame. Whenever I see his name attached to a project, I’m automatically aware of how tight everything will sound and how nuanced his songwriting tips will play into the tracks. Some longer held out guitar bends in tracks like “Earth Shaker”, “Free Fall” and “Born Destroyers” have his guitar technique written all over it. Miss May I seems to be really wearing some of their influences on their sleeves on this particular record with riffs on “Born Destroyers” sounding like Matt Heafy from Trivium penned them as well as technical guitar and drum work in “Hollow Vessel” mimicking the strengths of French legends Gojira.
I’d also like to point out the tracks “Into Oblivion” which has one of the strongest choruses and vocal melodies on the record with Ryan serenading us with “How can I catch up when I’m chasing nothing/And I’m falling so far behind?” The riffy breakdowns in the track also have a much more ‘groove metal’ approach, almost like a Pantera or Machine Head song from the 90’s. The track “Free Fall” is most likely my biggest guilty pleasure of this record. It’s not inventive or overtly original but the riffs, guitar leads, the soaring hook of the chorus are all extremely addictive and have had me hooked since it dropped as a single. Finally, the closing track “Bloodshed” features a hardcore style drum pattern and very aggressive chuggy guitars; it closes out the album very well with lyrical themes of defeating struggle and the powers that be that attempt to drag you down. Lyrically it concludes with “Crawl back in the hole you dwell/Farewell to conformity/Farewell to division/Farewell to tyranny/Farewell to corruption,” very much tying up the bow nicely with a final proclamation of decisive mental victory.
To wrap up this lengthy writeup, this record isn’t a reinvention of metalcore nor does it deviate far from it’s formula of heavy riffs, big chorus, massive breakdown but it does everything extremely well with enough nuance to make this corekid ecstatic. This sort of music is my bread and butter and while I understand if others find this a bit one dimensional, it does scratch an itch for me from a band that does this particular strain of metalcore extremely well. Thanks for reading and happy listening!
Highlights:
“Earth Shaker”
“Into Oblivion”
“Free Fall”
“Bloodshed”
“Hollow Vessel”
