“Hold on tight to all of your gold just to rot in the fucking dirt.”
Standing out in modern deathcore can be a daunting feat at times. Due to the prominence of the bands currently leading the genre, there is a trend of writing records filled to the brim with extravagant symphonic elements—such as Lorna Shore‘s I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me—with varying results. When bands aren’t copying that framework, they tend to inject their songs with distracting elements, such as the industrial noise on Signs of the Swarm’s latest album, To Rid Myself of Truth, which dulls the edge of what could have otherwise been a compelling record. As a result, a sizable portion of modern deathcore feels rather indistinguishable. This trend, however, does not apply to The Last Ten Seconds of Life, who have managed to stand out by writing menacing deathcore albums infused with a dark nu metal vibe on releases such as Soulless Hymns and No Name Graves—a sound no other band has successfully replicated. Today, we see the band returning with their new album, The Dead Ones, which seeks to further solidify their commanding presence within the scene.
The Dead Ones as a whole sees the band toning down the intensity slightly in favor of emphasizing the nu metal groove that has always been present in their sound. This shift gives the album a more pronounced anthemic feel, differentiating the band’s style in more subtle ways rather than relying on potentially distracting additions.
Throughout The Dead Ones, there are plenty of examples of this increased emphasis on anthemic songwriting. One of the clearest cases lies in the album’s second track, “Make It to Heaven”. After a brief opening breakdown, the song transitions into a pronounced nu metal groove that slows the pace, allowing the almost spoken-word clean vocal sections to give the chorus a mysterious and unexpectedly catchy quality. This approach creates a strong payoff for the guest feature from Signs of the Swarm’s David Simonich III, resulting in one of the most impactful moments in the band’s discography. Even the album’s titular cut benefits from this focus, as its straightforward heaviness is elevated by a groove that helps maintain the listener’s attention in what might otherwise be a more standard track for the band.
While the groove-oriented direction helps set the album apart within the band’s extensive discography, it also highlights a lingering issue: The Last Ten Seconds of Life‘s song structures have not evolved at the same pace. Although none of the tracks are poor in quality, songs like “Stiletto” and “Stereo” follow such similar structures that they can blur together, making it difficult to distinguish them as separate entries rather than parts of a single, solid but somewhat repetitive composition. Even songs with guest features are not entirely immune to this issue. The closing track, “XXXXXXXXXX”, featuring original vocalist Storm Strope, suffers from a similar sense of familiarity, as the guest vocals are not sufficiently differentiated from those of current vocalist Tyler Beam. While these issues do not make any individual track bad, the overall sameness dulls the impact of what could have been a defining album in the band’s sixteen-year career.
Overall, The Dead Ones is another solid effort from The Last Ten Seconds of Life, delivering the satisfyingly visceral experience that fans have come to expect. While the album exposes some cracks in their songwriting approach, it also demonstrates that their intentions are in the right place. With some refinement and a willingness to evolve their sound further, they have the potential to become one of the best acts the deathcore genre has ever seen.
7/10
The Dead Ones releases this Friday, via Metal Blade Records, and you can pre-order it here.