“False love & pure deceit, take my breath.”
It’s been a stop-and-start past few years for nu-core in the UK. Bands seemingly building up momentum then abruptly break up, and others don’t put out a sound that is a cut above what has already been. There have more than glimmers of hope, with Graphic Nature having a breakthrough year, and the likes of Starved on the cusp of putting together something special. Adding to this come Break Fifty, emerging in 2023 with a new line-up, deliver an experience that puts them forward as thoroughly exciting prospect.
The chattering tones that welcome in Every Scream Became a Whisper in the Dark on “B50” soon launch in a raging wall of noise and firing warn shots of the fury that is to come. Recent single “I Still See You” is a more than impressive opening full track that intertwines melancholic rage and the anger of betrayal. The hurt that fuels the opening half of “I Still See You“, clean strummed chords bursts into emotive outburst of pained vocals yelling “The doubt in myself that’ll never leave, deaf screams inside you’ll fail to see“.
Every Scream Became a Whisper in the Dark bleeds into track “A Familiar Face (Of Someone I Never Knew)“, weaving itself between moments of strained anger and riffs that will have a pit swinging for the nearest person, as the EP continues to ebb and flow between the emotions. A much needed reprisal comes in the form of interlude “Jitter” after the intensity of its opening tracks, with some neat trance thrown in for good measure.
A machine gun kick commands “Absence” and takes the wall of noise from earlier track “B50” unleashes it, only taking a breather to lead into its crushing breakdown. This and following track “A Red Glow” compete for heaviest on Every Scream Became a Whisper in the Dark. Slicing riffs and popping snare add a level of panicked furore that sinks into the skin to keep the EP alive and running.
If it had seemed the EP was reaching its tether with its sound, “Dreamland” rolls around to give a proverbial smack on the head with a feature from Ben Mason of Pintglass and Bound In Fear. Sickening lows from Mason shakes “Dreamland” into something much larger and encircling. The near-but-constrasting vocals between Mason and Angus make for tight all-round vocals, and prevents the feature from taking away from the gloomy atmosphere Break Fifty have built.
“Second Skin” closes out the record, continuing the animosity of Every Scream Became a Whisper in the Dark‘s sound and delving into the melancholic tones once again as it exits out. There’s a clear call back to the earlier track with lamenting vocals “I still see you now, obsidian eyes with a vulgar heart, mother fucker you tore my life apart“. It serves up a solid bookend to the EP, wrapping up the narrative and atmosphere that has evidently had much thought put into it.
Delving into the world of Break Fifty, it’s difficult not to exit out of it deeply impressed and immersed. From the minor touches, like music videos seemingly leading into one another, to the flow of the EP and the profound outpouring of emotion on display, it’s an impressive offering. Tracks such as “I Still See You” and “Dreamland” deserve to become staples of many listening rotations and there is a sense that Break Fifty have captured something that nu-core hasn’t for what is now a good while.
8/10
Every Scream Became a Whisper in the Dark is out December 8th via self-release.