“Summer fades into an empty fall as the cold crashes back into me.”
Seven months and three singles into What’s Left Unsaid’s release cycle, Foreign Hands’ journey up to this point has been a slow but steady one. Disciples of the late 90s/early 00s metalcore sound, the Delaware and Pennsylvania based group are one of the prominent revivalcore acts to have made a name for themselves in recent years. While discussion surrounding the group is rife with comparisons to genre pioneers like Poison the Well or 7 Angels 7 Plagues, such sentiments can be both a blessing and a curse. The comparison is certainly favorable, and a big draw for listeners looking for more of that nostalgia-inducing throwback sound. But it also sets high expectations to live up to, and creates a mold that Foreign Hands has to break free from if they want to carve out their own identity separate from the groups and era they draw inspiration from.
While their peers in groups such as Dying Wish, Boundaries, Static Dress, and SeeYouSpaceCowboy have seen multiple album releases over the past few years, their own output has been relatively limited in comparison, with their most recent releases prior to this album cycle being 2022’s Bleed the Dream EP and Lucid Noise singles. Now though, with years of extensive touring, a deal with Sharptone, and their latest record produced by the esteemed Will Putney under their belt, Foreign Hands finds themselves at a pivotal moment ahead of their biggest release yet—with the real question being whether What’s Left Unsaid can live up to the hype and expectations surrounding it.
“Resetting the Senses” kicks the record off with little preamble, opening quickly and with gusto. The pairing of frontman Tyler Norris’ screams and guitarist Jack Beatson’s clean vocals remains a winning combination, with the contrast between the two creating a balanced and emotionally charged vocal approach. Strong riffing, breakneck drumming, and Norris’ “hell is mine” callouts make the opening track a strong contender for a live setlist addition, with plenty of moments sure to get bodies moving and voices singing and shouting along. The track’s spoken word bridge will be a surprise for those familiar with Foreign Hands’ older material, as it was pulled directly from the single “What’s Left Unsaid (The Cure for Years to Come),” originally released in 2018, and then remastered in 2021.
While “What’s Left Unsaid” is clearly the namesake for the new record, it is interesting that it seems to have been broken down into different elements that were then repurposed, while the other song it was packaged with on release—”Laceration Wings”—made the final cut for the record’s tracklist. This move does pay off though, as the third iteration of “Laceration Wings” and its even further polished up production stands as the strongest version yet, as well as strengthens the ties to the band’s older discography. However, its placement along with What’s Left Unsaid’s three singles in the tracklist does create a block of previously heard material leading out of the record’s first half that is a bit of a speed bump in its momentum.
“Laceration Wings” is six years old at the time of What’s Left Unsaid’s release, and while “Conditioned for a Head-On Collision” (featuring Olli Appleyard of Static Dress) was the lead off single for the record, it came out at the tail end of last year. Explosive single “God Under Fingernails” was officially released in March of this year, but made its live debut during Foreign Hands’ supporting run for Currents’ 2023 The Death We Seek headlining tour (and having been at that tour’s first stop in Worcester, I can confirm that Foreign Hands and “God Under Fingernails” are both fantastic live.) Final single “Horror Domain” remains my favorite of the bunch, with its lyrics about wanting to be someone else sinking in like barbs with their haunting melodicism. Beatson’s singing across What’s Left Unsaid’s runtime continues to be impactful, with a number of his vocal parts standing out as some of the record’s most memorable moments. Norris is no slouch either, though, traversing the ever-shifting soundscapes with an ease that belies his gritty, anguished screams.
Apart from the standout vocal performances, the instrumental performances on What’s Left Unsaid are equally driving forces in the record’s energy and direction. Beatson and Gill Gonzalez’s guitar tandem is a powerful duo, dropping you in the middle of a nasty mosh pit one minute and creating space for more melodic moments the next. Finely tuned mixing lets bassist Chuck Minix really shine as well, with some of the moments where his bass really cuts through the mix being among my favorites on the record—the frantic bass dancing in the background of “God Under Fingernails,” or clawing through the explosion of sound in the back half of “Shapeless in the Dark,” for example. Drummer Tyler Washington delivers massive performances as well, guiding the group with precision in each flurry of kicks, killer fill, or breakneck changing of pace.
The closing stretch of What’s Left Unsaid does well to wrap things up in explosive fashion. The aforementioned “Shapeless in the Dark” is moody, volatile, and gorgeous. “Adversity’s Spitting Image” is another track begging to be heard live with fists and crowd surfers flying overhead. “Until the Sun Fades” is an incendiary cut that sees Norris going head-to-head with none other than Matt Mixon of 7 Angels 7 Plagues and Burning Empires. Closer “Magnetic Roses” is all killer and no filler, the group again expertly weaving together rowdy mosh-worthy sections with massive melodic moments that also call back to previous material in their discography. Roses are one of a few recurring motifs referenced by Foreign Hands in their lyricism, also appearing in “Bleed the Dream” (“what a bitter taste left in roses”, “this is where roses lay”). If you’re into lyrical deep dives, their discography is full of beautiful songwriting that is worth looking into.
Both refreshing and familiar in its sounds and aesthetics, What’s Left Unsaid is an exemplary showing from a group that has truly honed their strengths, confidently settling into their own identity while still paying tribute to eras past. The record capitalizes on years worth of effort on Foreign Hands’ part, living up to the high expectations that had previously been set for them—and hopefully, it is the push that finally gets them to a deserved spot at the forefront of the scene.
9/10
What’s Left Unsaid is set to release Friday June 21 via Sharptone Records. Pre-orders for the record can be found here.