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!