“Look at me when I’m on fire.”
If there were one band for fans of punk, hardcore and post-hardcore that I think is criminally under listened it would be Fiddlehead. Boston based, Fiddlehead are chock full of emotion and prowess. They are akin to the likes of Title Fight, and other emo-tinged hardcore acts, but add in a lot of forward thinking song writing and sounds. Lucky for us, the band is about to release their 3rd full length album, Death is Nothing to Us, on August 18th via Run for Cover Records.
While the intro track is mostly just another hardcore cut to me, “Sleepyhead” is when the band first shines, in my opinion. The instrumental is a bit punchier while having this super interesting lo-fi delivery. It remains impressively dynamic within this sound. There are emotional vocal deliveries by vocalist Patrick Flynn too, which will be commonplace.
“Loserman” starts with a weirder vocal delivery for me; it almost sounds lazy to my ear. The track is then redeemed by the hooky melody of what I believe the lyric to be “just get by and die.” It sounds so bizarre, yet catchy, and it fits the vocal style.
One of my favorite moments of the album comes in the intro to “Welcome to the Situation” where the guitar tone is tinged with equal parts beauty and pain. The overall rhythm of the song is so good too. This the first of two examples where the album makes the most of an 80 second piece of writing. There other is “Give it Time (II)” which feels like the band flexing at how they can incorporate a brief, smooth cut seemingly out of nowhere, but it works so well. It’s a section of the album that I look forward to the most during my listens. Both shorter tracks are.
“Sullenboy” maintains the energy with a funky drum intro to an equally funky rift and braggadocios vocal deliveries. I can hardly imagine a more fun song for a live show, at least within the rest of the band’s discography. “I feel the fear” lyrically is such an interesting sentiment to sing, too.
I like the way the drumming and light guitar tone merges together for the overall song structure in “Queen of Limerick” as it first merges at the track’s start. The best part of the song is the back and forth of the clean and screamed vocals towards the end, which are very impactful. This song is a trip overall, with a lot of vocal styles and instrumental switch-ups.
The structural progression of another standout, “Fiddleheads”, is a joy, and the lyric “I don’t want to just get by” is delivered so emotionally and catchy. It takes a bit for the song to get started, but it’s well worth it by the cathartic end.
“Fifteen to Infinity” has one of those classic high energy, earworm opening riffs that Fiddlehead has done several times now. This cut maintains that energy too, with a catchy hook and engaging riffs. There are moody sections too, thanks to the bass laid down by Nick Hinsch.
There are some less impressive tracks, like “True Hardcore (II)” and “The Woes”, but there’s good within them too. I also don’t find the closer to be special either, especially to close this album, but this is still a great listen. As I’ve stated, this band and album deserves the time of fans within the scene.
8/10
You can pre-order Fiddlehead’s new album Death is Nothing to Us here before its release on August 18th.