Tell us about an album that means a lot to you, and, most importantly, why it means so much.

What makes it resonant? Why do you connect with it so strongly?

To be clear, it doesn’t have to be literally applicable to your life. It could be, for example, an album that you listened to at a certain point in your life and thus connect it with that. I’m asking this question more to get at the stories than the music itself. Tell me yours!

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/post-human-survival-horror/1535067172
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0e1WaSNDZnoPixaxDNdWo4
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Pp4IGPebg&list=PLxA687tYuMWjFSs5uzLYbGrdHRm0srHQ0

Metalcore Bring Me the Horizon is back, baby. Awoouu (wolf Howl)

Back in 2013, Bring Me the Horizon was arguably the biggest band in metalcore. Their release that year, Sempiternal, propelled them to international stardom and mainstream success. After this, guitarist Jona Weinhofen left the band and instead of adding another guitarist, the group added a keyboardist instead. The change up in sound was very noticeable, while the band found incredible commercial success and curried the favor of some pop critics, many rock and roll fans felt a little left out in the cold by a typical change in sound by a heavy band following commercial success.

After a pair of albums and an EP in their more electronic, pop centered sound, Bring Me the Horizon have returned to that signature Sempiternal sound with POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR. The crushing guitars come roaring back on this release and Oli Sykes, one of the best unclean vocalists in the game, finally returns to his growls and guttural pit calls. While there's still a lot of electronica in here, this seems to augment the sound, like in Sempiternal, rather than guide it. The only problem with this release is that it's too short. But luckily, SURVIVAL HORROR is just the first of a planned four EP set, with the other three coming over the course of 2021.

The EP also features a lot of great, well, features. Standouts include BABYMETAL on Kingslayer bringing a late era Poppy vibe to the disk and Amy Lee's haunting appearance on the album closer.

For fans of Bad Omens, Architects and Crossfaith.

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/wrong-generation/1535816008
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0ENzm2HTf7mfFjWZ7CaB5u
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Nm3JIPr3w&list=OLAK5uy_knEEYCSEk8ai9vRtXwRnbrJ_bSVR_5JA8

The hardcore meets hip-hop trio FEVER 333 are back to their roots with a new EP called WRONG GENERATION. While their last release, STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS, tended to lose their punk influence in exchange for more nu-metal influences, WRONG GENERATION ditches that side-step and continues from where they first started when the broke on to the scene in 2018 with Made an America. In my opinion, this is a welcome return to form. These guys seem most comfortable when they are making rebellious music that may not appeal to everyone, rather than their attempt at mainstream acceptance by employing more accessible song structure and instruments.

Drummer Aric Improta has never sounded better so far. While he's always been able to dial into a groove a bit, he feels more like the mover you'd like the drummer to be in a hip-hop band, rather than just playing keep up with the melody section. This does mean guitarist Stephen Harrison isn't quite as prominent in the tracks, but that doesn't mean he's not doing great work. Harrison takes more of a cue from Tom Morello in this album, following the rhythm section and getting in the groove. Vocalist Jason Aalon Butler sounds best when he's doing his high pitched screams and spoken word-type rap rather than his cleans (which sound a bit too much like a bad Chester Bennington impression), and he mostly stays away from cleans on this album.

Butler's lyrics still feel a lot more than STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS and are probably the one thing where you can see a through line from the beginning of FEVER 333 to now. His focus on LA culture, black liberation, police violence and more gets shaper with every release.

For fans of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Stray From the Path.