FOUR YEAR STRONG-ANALYSIS PARALYSIS

Four Year Strong return in full force on analysis paralysis continuing their more overt sonic embrace of 90s rock from Brain Pain while both expanding the influences from that decade and beyond and adding some experimental wrinkles to the proceedings. It’s also their most overtly hardcore/metalcore record so far, yet they’ve lost none of the catchiness of their career to date, nor have they punted on modernizing their foundational influences, instead incorporating yet more of them and in a combination that sounds fresh and vibrant. I’m not sure any other band could’ve pulled off a track like "bad habit": pop punk meets Third Eye Blind with a big breakdown and an anthemic chorus that reminds me strongly of—and I’m sure is intentionally meant to evoke—Steve Miller Band’s "Abracadabra," with a Bilmuri-esque "hoouh!" It’s really quite impressive. Speaking of breakdowns, the band’s decision to drop in the "Rollercoaster of Love" sample before the breakdown in "rollercoaster" is extremely advanced, on the Bilmuri/Kevin James sample tier.

Album opener "aftermath/afterthought" is one of the most interesting songs I’ve heard this year, almost like a brief overview of 90s alternative music condensed into one track, with alt-rock, post-grunge, nü metal, and especially Nine Inch Nails mixed with metalcore and a sick breakdown. The music video has the feeling of footage from the Koresh compound (although I’m pretty sure it’s just random places in Worcester) mixed with the aesthetic and vibe of the Brendan Yates of Turnstile-directed "This Is Why" by Paramore video.

Elsewhere, the band continues to lean into the sound of bands like Everclear or The Verve, while sometimes getting more aggressive— "daddy of mine," for example, reminds me a lot of "Decayin’ with the Boys" by Every Time I Die (this is a good thing)—or stripping things back—such as on "maybe it's me" with its GLOW ON-esque application of dream pop floating over and around the track like gentle clouds. "paranoia," "dead end friend," and "better get better" are first-rate peak 90s-core tracks, "STFIL" is the song that is closest to the distilled essence of the record in one track, and "how do i let you go?" closes us out on a softer, dreamier note, the sonic equivalent of a slightly breezy but still sunny and warm late August afternoon, beautiful but with traces of melancholy in the air.

analysis paralysis is the logical progression from Brain Pain, building on the band’s full embrace of the decade of pastel colors and Clintonian extramarital affairs with an increased willingness to experiment and combine influences in a way that is both nostalgic and fresh. Another strong addition to the catalogue of a band that may be fairly deep into their career at this point but shows no signs of slowing down or growing stale any time soon.

DIAMOND CONSTRUCT-ANGEL KILLER ZERO

There’s a scene in one of the Matrix films, I can’t recall which, when Neo jacks back into the Matrix to find the Agent Smith virus running amok and the entire simulation essentially coming apart at the seams. From when the opening track of Angel Killer Zero "Hashira" hits, the experience is roughly analogous (underscored by moments such as the "system malfunction" outro on the ludicrously-heavily "Delirium"), and we’re not let off this glitchy, skronky ride until the "Angel Killer Zero program [is] complete…terminating simulation" at the end of the final track "You Want That Scene Shit," itself an anguished roar that feels like it could rip the sky asunder. It's only just hyperbolic when I say my speakers can barely handle this record; there are breakdowns on this album that played at proper volume (loud) could conceivably make city skylines collapse.

I initially discovered Australian band Diamond Construct in the form of the Djent Bizkit/trap metal hybrid "Hit It Back." After some initial skepticism, I ultimately concluded that what I was hearing (and seeing—the video is great) was extremely advanced, I just needed to catch up. I eventually did, and with a newly-inked deal with Pale Chord providing the band with the opportunity to reach a much larger audience with this new full-length Angel Killer Zero, it won’t be long before more people will catch on to the criminally-underrated Diamond Construct, too. I foresee Angel Killer Zero having the effect on the scene that two of Emmure’s records in 2011’s Speaker of the Dead and in 2017’s re-birth Look At Yourself did in not just invigorating fans new and old with one airtight banger after another, but in re-defining expectations of what’s possible in the genre, both from a songwriting and a production standpoint. Fittingly, the band supported Emmure on their February run through Australia.

While Emmure is the most obvious touch-stone, Diamond Construct is its own entity. As I discussed with the band Cheem, comparisons are really more to provide some frame of reference for listeners than to reduce what these bands are doing to mere re-creation. Sure, there are influences—we all stand on the shoulders of giants—but particularly when something is truly unique, as the music of Diamond Construct and Cheem, respectively, is, it can be somewhat difficult to describe without some frame of reference. I likened it in that interview to a combination of what NFL scouts do with players entering the draft in making comparisons with current or previous players in the league mixed with wine tasting notes. Further, a comparison is not an equation.

Nevertheless, the Emmure comparison proves even more apt when you consider that they were one of the first bands in metalcore to truly embrace hip-hop in an organic manner. As Diamond Construct vocalist Kynan Groundwater told me in our November 2023 interview, "We like to blend genres and make music that we love to hear. Our music consists mostly of metal, rap and edm…[we] also draw from the aesthetic you’d see at a Ghostemane or Scarlxrd show." If the music of Scarlxrd is generally classified as trap metal, then it is right to call this incarnation of Diamond Construct metal trap at the heaviest end of that spectrum, exemplified by tracks like "Switchblade OST" and "Neon." Along the lines of EDM, one can hear elements of dubstep and rave music on a track like "Hell Inside You." "Faded" is another interesting track that incorporates a strong nod to Linkin Park but not in a way that feels derivative and displays a much more accessible side (relatively speaking) of Diamond Construct than I’ve yet heard. The chorus, almost modern R&B, is of particular note.

Angel Killer Zero is, if the effusive praise didn’t give it away, currently in pole position for my album of the year. Though the songs all stand on their own two feet, this is a record I would recommend be listened to in sequence as it is and was intended to be a cohesive whole. Play it through, play it again, and keep playing it. Doctor’s orders!

BEARTOOTH-THE SURFACE

While I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Finn McKenty’s interview with Caleb Shomo on his brainchild Beartooth’s new album The Surface, I was also miffed he beat me to the punch with how I was going to lead off this review. Not really, but I had the exact same thought: The Surface accomplishes the seemingly impossible and actually pulls off “it’s our heaviest and most melodic” without the album being butt rock. Part of it is the contrast, with bright pop sensibilities washing in and out like the tides opposite raw fury on tracks like “Sunshine!” but that’s not all of it. The Surface is emotionally heavy, but largely not in the way we’ve come to expect from the band—the struggle against “the riptide that’s trying to drown me” is there, but Shomo emerges from the struggle stronger and more self-empowered. The brutally raw emotive quality of Beartooth remains—as does their relentless energy and all of the other recognizable features of the band—but the filter is different, and as mentioned the heavier parts are heavier, and the pop elements’ integration in particular truly shows Shomo having unlocked another level.

The record rips out of the gate in “The Surface,” heavy and high-energy, setting the tone for what’s to come. A little before a minute in, though, most of the band drops out for the first pre-chorus, with Shomo’s vocals ultimately laid completely bare before the uplifting chorus kicks in, leading off with the lyrics “All my worries were a waste of time / Made the world so blurry I was going blind.” The heaviness promptly returns at the end of the chorus through the second verse before the second pre-chorus keeps the whole band and finds the vocals layered in a way they weren’t the first time. The effect is that the first iteration of the pre-chorus felt more exposed and almost tentative whereas the second feels more convicted and empowered. “The Surface” introduces us to the thematic direction of the record and to the evolution of Shomo as an artist and as a man. The song eventually leaves off with more gut-punching savagery before we get “Riptide,” originally released as a single in 2022.

“Riptide” signaled a “clean slate” for Beartooth, with Shomo stating that “I basically made Beartooth’s version of a dance song.” Both musically as much as is possible given that it’s Beartooth and in the music video, the song, anchored by the exceptional chorus, finds Shomo doing his “boy band thing.” Shomo states that the song was written not long after he gave up drinking, and was a harbinger of the shape of Beartooth to come, with Shomo no longer willing to “romanticize the riptide that’s trying to drown me.” The time had come to make a change. Early in “Riptide” Shomo sings: “Finally frozen, no more emotion / Started escaping, now everything’s numb / Dove in the deep end, stuck and I can’t swim / So out of breath, I know I don’t have long.” What Shomo is describing is “red” in polyvagal theory:

In point of contrast, when in “Might Love Myself” Shomo sings “Chemistry is changing / Emotions rearranging / I’m outta my cage / Breaking my spell / Think I might / Think I might love myself,” his perspective is coming from a state of “green.” One can through engaging in practices such as breathwork, mindfulness, and meditation help calm their nervous system and not just get to a neuroception of safety but effectively make that their baseline through continuing these practices, changing negative behaviors, and committing to living according to one’s values, although as we hear play out over the course of the record, the process is not always linear. Lasting positive changes occur when one can consistently get to and stay in green. Being in a state of green generally perpetuates more green thoughts and feelings. According to the Bell Foundation:

Polyvagal theory, originally formulated by Dr Stephen Porges, provides a useful and integrative evolutionary framework for understanding these anxiety and panic responses…The nervous system uses a subconscious feature called neuroception to detect either safety or danger in others. Anxiety can be thought of as an overactive neuroception system, interpreting danger where there isn’t any danger…When you engage the green light, you create cycles of healing that are very effective in eliminating anxiety and panic.

Shomo is throughout The Surface describing these real, fundamental changes.

Incorporating another useful framework, the narrative arc of The Surface in many ways mirrors the Kübler Ross Change Curve Model, which outlines the “different stages people and the organization go through when a change occurs. There are four key stages people tend to go through as they experience change. These are: shock/denial, anger/fear, acceptance, and commitment.”

Quoting the ancient Chinese Confucian philosopher Meng Tzu (Mencius) in what reads like Hatebreed lyrics:

When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.

This is precisely the essence of The Surface. You don’t necessarily have to be familiar with the arc of Beartooth and Shomo to fully appreciate the album, but the context does add to its triumphal feel, lightyears of personal growth from “I’m nothing but sick and disgusting” to “So high up I’m weightless / Found another dimension / I see the kingdom coming / The future is my creation” on penultimate track “My New Reality” (co-written with Storii in one of a handful of instances on the album where Shomo made the typically-rare decision to enlist outside input), an exceptionally catchy offering where in the McKenty interview The Weeknd is mentioned as a stylistic reference point. As with “Might Love Myself,” the songs still reserve the right to go feral, breaking into musically- and emotionally-heavy exultations—Shomo in the case of “Might Love Myself” boldly declaring “I’m exactly who I wanna be!” “Might Love Myself” and “My New Reality” are legitimately great songs that showcase Shomo’s pop sensibilities and songwriting chops.

The fourth track, “The Better Me” featuring Hardy, incorporates a Nashville flavor, resulting in a buoyant slice of “countrycore,” something I want to hear more of. It feels like the sonic cousin if spiritual opposite of another Attack Attack! alumnus Johnny Franck’s Bilmuri song “ALL GAS” with Mitchell Tenpenny. Both songs are easily among my favorite tracks of the year, really fresh-sounding with high re-listenability, building on sonic ground broken (to the best of my knowledge) by Issues and Jon Langston with 2016’s “Yung & Dum.”  Whereas “ALL GAS” deals with a destructive relationship with alcohol, though, “The Better Me” strikes a different tone and “testif[ies] it’s time to recover.” Out of the all-too-familiar red of polyvagal theory (“I'm shutting down with one foot in the ground and I got no confidence left”) is a determined message to break the cycle of being “back in the gutter / banking on the same things” wallowing in self-defeat (“How many times have I said I was gonna be someone / When I get back onto my feet? / Tomorrow, I'm gonna make changes / Cause today I can barely speak”) with an exhortation to “just say it out loud: today’s the day I stop fucking around and be the better me.”

The push-and-pull of “Sunshine!” and “What’s Killing You” (with the latter’s opening feeling tailor-made for a set of heavy squats or deadlifts) follow the fifth track “Might Love Myself,” with the emotional nadir of the record arriving in the form of ballad “Look the Other Way,” which finds Shomo at his most vulnerable, singing:

I’m not falling asleep, wish my heart would beat slower
Thinking back on my year, wanna start it all over
I wake you up and I tell you I’m losing control
I’m barely surviving, but I need you to know

I’m picking up the pieces, please just look the other way
I’m picking up the pieces, please just look the other way
‘Cause baby I’m afraid I’m slowly pushing you away
By showing you the deepest, darkest, weakest part of me

“Look the Other Way” is also a love song about a supportive partner being a rock through even the lowest points: “You said you’ll always be right here to keep me company / When I don’t even love myself you love me anyway.“ Out of “Look the Other Way” comes the closing three song cycle of positivity and self-empowerment as the record surges upward to its close, with the intentionally straightforward “What Are You Waiting For” the distilled essence of the record, a high-energy kick in the seat of the pants urging the listener to “Turn your life around / No better time than now / To ask yourself / What are you waiting, what are you waiting for?” The previously-discussed anthem of ascension “My New Reality” follows, and the soaring “I Was Alive” closes out the proceedings in defiance of fear and regret, with Shomo singing “Not gonna be on my deathbed / Knowing I’ll be buried in regret…Not gonna be on my deathbed / Wondering why I was always scared / To say those words I never said / To the ones I loved while I was there.” It’s a beautiful song, a deeply resonant capstone to the achievement that is The Surface.

The Surface is masterful, it’s fresh, and it’s real; it is easily the best album I’ve heard this year. It’s also the perfect one to christen The Angels’ Share with a metaphorical smashing of a champagne bottle on its bow, a bold repudiation of fear and self-loathing and an embrace of life. In a world where too often cynicism and ironic detachment stand in for genuine feeling and authenticity, The Surface, like all Beartooth records, is as brutally honest as it gets. This record in particular stands as a testament to the work Shomo has done as a songwriter and on himself; it’s something we can all learn from and be inspired by. How many of us have been trapped in prisons of our own design? How many of us have let fear dictate how we’re going to live our lives? The Surface asks us are you going to stand on the sidelines or are you going to really live? “What are you waiting for?”