“Forget to lеave, stay inside forevеr.”
Connecticut’s penchant for producing quality metalcore is indisputable at this point. Hatebreed, Currents, Balmora, and Boundaries have etched their names into the underground community to varying extents, all whilst staying true to their derivative sounds. In this motley crew of hardcore, beatdown, and contemporary-adjacent metalcore acts, Before I Turn is the progressive ghost that has remained consistent since their self-titled debut EP was released in 2015. Perhaps it’s mainly due to independence throughout their tenure, but Before I Turn has arguably flown under the radar despite a swath of high-quality projects. 2018 and 2020’s Claustrophobic and Lovelorn, in tandem, are masterclass progcore showcases with connected lore that’s equally intriguing. Immoral and Malevolent Happenings is not just the culmination of Before I Turn’s desolate landscape of tragedy, but a sonically reflective byproduct of a band that’s spent years honing their craft.
As some may have already surmised, given the track titles of Immoral and Malevolent Happenings, Before I Turn draws much of their lyrical influence from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for this album. If that isn’t indicative enough of what to expect from an atmospheric perspective, Before I Turn’s signature piano adjuncts and subdued synths offer an unnerving sense of impending self-destruction throughout Immoral and Malevolent Happenings’s runtime. In essence, this is what those who’ve been following Before I Turn since the beginning are accustomed to, but with amplified malice at play from an instrumental standpoint thanks to the efforts of Julian Bennett, Drew Poko, and Josh Kupec. As this reinforces vocalist Alex Anglis’s impeccable range, Before I Turn has epitomized stone-cold precarity in every sense with Immoral and Malevolent Happenings.
The inspirational locale for this record is not limited to lyricism alone, but also apparent in structure, as well. “Dripping Rubies” and “Oh My, How They Bled!” see the duo of Alex and Karli Anglis trade solemn echoes and vitriolic harmonies, much like the ill-fated Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. As this specific approach is atypical of their prior work, outside of Lovelorn, Before I Turn clearly put a litany of care into the formation of Immoral and Malevolent Happenings, such that the result would stand to be irrefutably engaging without leaning too much into the literary underpinnings of its source material. Concept albums are often difficult enough to pull off without falling victim to overzealous reliance on basis, and Before I Turn have struck the perfect equilibrium in terms of what to use and forego in making Immoral and Malevolent Happenings a perilously progressive, audible odyssey.
Immoral and Malevolent Happenings is meant to be a direct follow-up to Claustrophobic, and indeed that is the case in just about every aspect of how the record flows. Volleys of polyrhythmic mangling with down-tuned, panicked strings continually mesh with ambient, mid-tempo choruses. Before I Turn’s biggest strength has always been their aptitude to maintain an unpredictable semblance of musical bedlam by switching between one extreme and the other, and this continues on Immoral and Malevolent Happenings without fail. “Pour Soul”, “Wilting”, “They All Deserve To Die”, or “Born In Blood”; there is a wide variety of progcore offerings that all provide plentiful doses of compositional nuance. Though Immoral and Malevolent Happenings may hold considerably more volume than most modern metalcore records, even by the standards of progressive albums, there is no stagnation whatsoever.
Any potential divisiveness over Immoral and Malevolent Happenings is to be found in its mix. Conventional wisdom would deem it likely that the somewhat scruffy edifice that Before I Turn leveraged in this case was intentional to ensure Immoral and Malevolent Happenings sounded just as scarred as the blighted character it concerns. Some will find this engrossing; others may see it as superfluous. In any case, this may very well end up being the sole point of contention for an otherwise outstanding album and addition to an already-impressive resume for Before I Turn.
The law of averages has seemingly remained unapplicable to Before I Turn. Five albums and an EP into their career, and there isn’t a blemish to be found. In some ways, their style of progcore only ever needed to mature, rather than generally improve upon what had already been done, and that has been made abundantly obvious on their recent string of releases. On Immoral and Malevolent Happenings, they cement their rightful place as a true diamond in the rough with everything in front of them, and will only be stopped when they willingly choose to bow out. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen anytime soon.
8/10
Immoral and Malevolent Happenings independently releases on Friday, February 6, and can be pre-ordered here.