“I’ve foreseen where I’m destined to be.”
With their blend of traditional metal and hardcore, Judiciary have created an impressive and solid repertoire over the years. With a split with Morality Rate to their name along with their debut full-length featuring Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris and God’s Hate’s Brody King, their collaborators are names you associate with gnarly and in-your-face music. This is not to discount Judiciary’s own efforts, which display quality riffs that rival the likes of Inclination and Jesus Piece. It is now with Flesh + Blood, their best work to date, that the quintet take their sound up another notch.
Within its opening moments, the title tracks of sorts in “Blood” and “Flesh” begin to hammer home what Judiciary is here to do. Groove metal guitar solos dip in and out track, with one in particular that leads into a disgustingly huge breakdown, as if the riffs were guiding the striking blow of the breakdown. As “Engulfed” hits, it’s difficult not to be enamoured by what the Texas unit are pulling off, with this quality mixing of sounds. This comes, also, with the addition of the tight production that previous records had lacked, courtesy of the expertise of Arthur Rizk and Will Putney.
Even as someone who sees themselves as a lapsed metal fan, having left listening to the likes of Machine Head and Gojira in the past, the addition of hardcore elements into the sound with an atmosphere that doesn’t have echoes of wishing it was still the ’90s leads to a track-by-track experience that begins to recapture that sentiment. Even with the more paced “Paradigm Piercer“, it’s difficult not to end up tapping or nodding along to its groove.
With “Knife in the Dirt” and “Stare into the Sun” occupying the middle stretch, Flesh + Blood’s vocal hooks begin to set themselves into the mind, whether it be the previous “Shattered glass sound” of “Paradigm Piercer” or “Sweltering in the light, searching some commiseration” of “Stare into the Sun“. For those whom the oozing riffs doesn’t satisfy, the yelled vocals and ferocious breakdowns make a ferocious return in bruiser “Cobalt“.
The closing stretch of Flesh + Blood begins to still offer up moments that are a treat to listen to. “Steel Hand Gods“, a track set up for carnage and nothing else, barks out its vocals with riffs that hammer away. With these chugging riffs layered over with another epic guitar solo, it is once again difficult not to be taken in completely by Judiciary’s sound. “Obsidian” and “Eschatos Hemera” do not let up on this relentless experience, leaving the record perfectly timed with a run time of 31 minutes. Flesh + Blood‘s closer drops in a surprise addition of clean vocals and drum work that is so satisfying on the ear.
What is evident across these ten tracks is that Judiciary have an understanding, a confidence and an ability to pull of the sound they are aiming to create. While it does not push either its metallic or hardcore influence in new directions, the ability to use and combine the best qualities of each makes for a listen that will undoubtedly spark the attention of many. Flesh + Blood ultimately sees Judiciary present their most refined but also most extreme material yet.
8.5/10
Flesh + Blood is out this Friday, March 10th, via Closed Casket Activities.