#Octanecore

[falloutbradreviews]

Wolves At The Gate – Wasteland

I swear I should just rename my review show to “Octanecore Reviews,” because I’m just reviewing Octanecore bands now. To be fair, though, the band I’m going to be talking about today didn’t start off as an Octanecore band. Wolves At The Gate is a long-running metalcore band that I’ve never quite listened to much, minus an album or two from them, but I’ve never talked about them publicly. They were always a generic metalcore band that just never did much for me, but I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to their last album. I remember it being okay, if I did listen to their last one, but it’s been a few years since that came out, so I don’t know, for sure. Regardless, I saw that they had a new album out, so I figured I’d check it out. There isn’t much that came out this week, minus the new Rivers Of Nihil, Aesop Rock, and Stray From The Path records, so it’s more about quality over quantity. I listened to this record, and well, it’s not the worst thing I’ve heard all year, but it’s far from the best. They stared off as a generic metalcore band that did what they did well, and ultimately turned into a generic Octanecore band. This album frustrates me on a few levels, but at its “core,” it’s not half bad. It’s a solid Octanecore record with some cool breakdowns, riffs, and vocals, but that’s where my praises ultimately end.

If you like this sound, you’ll probably like the album, but I’ve made it clear over a few reviews now that are about Octanecore bands that I’m starting to get sick of this sound. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but so many new bands / albums are coming out that sound the exact same, and it’s tiring. This is why I walked away from reviewing in the first place, because I started listening to so much that sounded the same, and it just got old to say the same things over and over. Wasteland is the embodiment of those albums, where it just blends into the crowd, and doesn’t do anything unique, but it’s also not a technically bad album. I don’t hate this album, or even think it’s bad, but there are a few things that bother me about it. Not only does its sound bother me in the sense that they do nothing with the Octanecore sound, at least nothing I haven’t heard anyway.

My biggest issue with this album is that it’s mostly comprised of short interludes that honestly did not need to be here. This should have been an EP, I’ll say it now. The album is 36 minutes, but it has 13 songs on it, and most of the “songs” are just interludes that add nothing to the record. There’s one interlude that’s not even 30 seconds here, and I’m just left scratching my head at that one. Not to mention, everything just blends together, too, so it’s hard to tell when one song ends and another begins. I suppose the best thing about it is that it’s only 36 minutes, but the album blends together so hard. The performances on this thing are solid, but it’s the lack of catchy hooks and memorable moments that bother me. I said there are some good vocals, riffs, and breakdowns, but I don’t remember where they are in the album. I’ll need to listen to the album a bunch more times to let it sit, and sometimes there are albums like that, but those are usually albums with a lot to say or do, not generic Octanecore albums that you can get the gist of on your first listen.

Like I said earlier, if you like this sound, I think you’ll like this. There are going to be a ton of modern rock and metalcore fans that eat this up, and good for them, because it’s got a sound that people clearly like. There are way too many boring synth and electronic elements for my liking, but it all just blends together into a big blob. That’s how a lot of these albums are, for better or worse. Despite how a band like Sleep Theory wears their influences on their sleeve, they still make really catchy, fun, and memorable stuff, so there’s no excuse for bands to fade into the background like this. I don’t hate this album, by any means, but at the same time, I wouldn’t go to bat for this thing. I just hate that this sound is getting so popular now, because it’s become so saturated and boring. That’s what happened with late 00s metalcore and 2010s pop-punk. They both got so saturated with generic, boring, and uninteresting bands and albums, I just got bored of the genres, and it’s starting to happen here, too. The last couple of years were pretty fun, but it’s annoying listening to a generic Octanecore album every week, frankly.

[waterparksdrama]

the weirdest ppl in ur life will be parxies tell me why my gracie abrams listening irl is a waterparks fan… she saw me listening to them on airbuds (app that lets you see what ur friends are listening to) and proceeded to tell me she loves them and attended the last tour 😭😭

waterparks fans are either your average alternative pop punkers (some listening to like. octanecore lol) or like the most bland indie pop stan that loves capitalism and probably ajr there is literally no in between with this - iz

[thats-the-teen-spirit]

Top 10 songs of 2023, reviewed by yours truly

As per tradition when Spotify Wrapped comes out I write short reviews of the best songs of the year so here we go:

10. One More Time by blink-182

The biggest reveal from the world of pop punk last year was that blink-182 is back... again. First I was a little sceptical especially after hearing Edging but this song, and its video made me listen. The lyrics are about the long lost friendship between Travis, Mark and Tom, and to be completely honest I shed a couple teardrops the first few times I gave it a listen. Amazing song from an amazing record.

9. Homicide by Magnolia Park

I'm completely new to this band, I found this song randomly in an Instagram reel that caught my attention. It's super catchy, almost Linkin Park-ish vibes that is a little "Octanecore" little pop punk, but nevertheless an absolute banger.

8. Jaded by Spiritbox

Spiritbox is the new shit in the scene, everyone and their mom knows about it. But just a little less than a month ago they put out an EP consisting of 6 melodic and heavy bangers called The Fear of Fear. This song stands out from the EP because of the insanely catchy chorus, the breakdown with the clean guitar melody and just the overall feeling of the song. Courtney has always been open about her influences (even and especially the pop ones) and this song is a great example to it.

7. Lost by Linkin Park

On the 20th anniversary of Meteora, Linkin Park released a bunch of unreleased material from the recording session of the legendary album and this was the first single off of it. What more can I say about it? If you haven't heard it despite liking Linkin Park then shame of you.

6. Without A Whisper by Invent, Animate

Another surprise as I've never been a big fan of the band. Not being so into the Deftones-y spacey vibes before, this band always has been a hit or miss. Until Heavener. It's blended so seemlessly that first I didn't even notice that there's now screaming instead of singing with a bunch of reverb. I still almost never skip this song despite Heavener being released earlier this year.

5. Fake Out by Fall Out Boy

This one is probably the only song on the list that is not a single, not even the top 3 from their album So Much (for) Stardust. The boys are officially back and this song proves it, The falsetto hook in the chorus got stuck in my head after the first few listens. I'm really really glad they are back to playing instrumental music because that's what they do best.

4. Might Love Myself by Beartooth

For me this year was about healing. Healing from a past breakup, losing my previous job, and just in general the depressing reality of adulthood. After hearing the first singles from the latest Beartooth album it was obvious that Caleb, the singer for the band had been through a similar journey prior to writing this record. This song stands out for me because of the overwhelmingly positive self-loving lyrics that are a must-listen when you have been through a lot of shit. I also like the little "whoo" before the second chorus, it really makes it sound like Caleb had a lot of fun recording it.

3. Haunted by Spanish Love Songs

The most underrated band on the list by a landmile. Also probably the most depressing band I've ever listened to, which says something. The whole new record No Joy has some really interesting musical changes from the previous ones, there's less screaming, less distorted guitars, it has more of a The Killers vibe than something off tumblr's 2015 pop punk hardcore best of (looking at you The Story So Far). Haunted is a bittersweet tune about being nostalgically sad about the old days, and for an old fart that is closer to 30 than to 20 it's a comforting thing that I'm not alone with this feeling.

2. LosT by Bring Me The Horizon

What do you get when you mix 'I'm not Okay' and current era Bring Me The Horizon? That's right, this fucking banger. I think throughout the year this song was the only one that I've never skipped. The pop punk-emo feeling is in every note, the breakdown is easily my most favorite of the year, the callout for it is even. "I think i'm gonna break down". Fucking genius by the most dynamic songwriting duo of the music scene, Oli and Jordan. The powerpop elements are also fun to listen to, it just blends really well. 10/10 banger, looking forward to the EP.

Ascensionism/Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token

The biggest band of the year was 100% Sleep Token. My Spotify was POSSESSED by their music this year, so obviously it was a tough choice to pick a song from their latest album so I cheated a little with the longest, most progressive songs of the record. Their music feels like a religious experience for me and the best example to this is Ascensionism, the "YOU MAKE ME WISH I COULD DISAPPEAR" line hits, the rap part fits perfectly, the guitars are heavy as balls, the piano intro is the perfect introduction, it's a 12/10 song, it's that good

And honestly I have the same feelings about Take Me Back to Eden. The titular song and its callbacks to Chokehold made me feel like I'm in a chokehold myself. The epitome of great songwriting was when from the nature sounds through rapping we got to the heaviest, low tuned breakdown of the last couple years

So there you have it, my personal top 10+1 list. If you read my review this far, thank you.

[sonic-wildfire]

Album Review: Killing Me Softly - Autumn Lost in Silence

Autumn Lost in Silence is such a blistering and face-melting masterpiece of a metalcore record. It really is a breath of fresh air hearing an up-and-coming act retreading the steps of what made all those late 90s/early 2000s metalcore records so great instead of delving into the miserably oversaturated "octanecore" formula that has gotten popular primarily through TikTok and other social media. The production here is perfectly raw; nothing sounds squeaky clean or otherwise overproduced. What Killing Me Softly serves up is a thrilling half-hour of power complete with scorching shrieks, tasteful breakdowns, and satisfying little nooks and crannies that keep the record exciting.

If you haven't listened to this album and are a fan of metalcore in a similar vein to early Misery Signals or Converge, this is one you should absolutely give a shot.

[shes-fast-like-me]

oh fuck i'm only 100 away from dying my hair green oh shit 😳

[seerofmike]

the man on americas got talent that tried teaching his bunny to play basketball/the guitar/piano/bowling . octanecore

[falloutbradreviews]

Blood Dealer – Designer Antichrist

As a music fan, I love to peruse the new releases of every week; I’ll check every genre on Apple music, but I feel like there are new Octanecore EPs and albums coming out every week. I hate that this style of metalcore is becoming popular, thanks to BMTH, Bad Omens, Wage War, and a ton of other bands making it popular, but you reap what you sow, I guess. I talked about the new albums from Acres a few days ago, entitled The Host, and how that embodied every Octanecore cliché under the sun and just did nothing for me (aside from a couple of moments here and there). I was just checking the new releases for today, and I came across this band called Blood Dealer, and their new EP, Designer Antichrist. Frankly, that title sounds really cringy, so I wasn’t expecting much when I listened to this EP, and I’m honestly really torn. These guys are from the UK, and obviously, I’ve never heard of them, but I guess they’re pretty underground. Designer Antichrist is both better and worse than the new Acres album, and that doesn’t make sense now, but it will here in a little while. There are things that aren’t half bad about this EP, but there are other things that are utterly terrible, so both of those things cancel each other out, and the EP ultimately is just okay.

Let’s start with what works, and it’s honestly their heavier sound; these guys combine metalcore, nu-metal, pop, and R&B. They honestly make the nu-metal and metalcore side of their sound work well. There are some great breakdowns and riffs here, although they aren’t anything special. I wouldn’t go to bat for these riffs and breakdowns, but at the same time, they’re a step above the usual shlock that I’ve heard in this vein. What doesn’t work, however, are the vocals and lyrics. The harsh vocals aren’t half bad, but it’s the clean vocals that aren’t all that good. They’re not horrible on their own, either, but they’re pretty boring, and they don’t light a candle to the heavy hitters in the scene. The lyrics, at least when they aren’t boring or generic metalcore clichés, they’re obnoxious and cringy beyond belief. The lyrics get weirdly sexual on the first couple of tracks, and they’re not very good, but “Jealousy” comes in and it’s a generic Octanecore banger. Honestly, I kind of like this song, because there aren’t horribly bad lyrics, the hook is quite good, and the riffs / breakdowns are pretty fun, but it’s nothing I haven’t heard, either. The next song, unfortunately, goes right back to the awful lyrics that are weirdly sexual and also embody hip-hop cliches, so it’s very strange. This band has the weird distinction of not knowing which kind of Octanecore they want to lean more into, whether it’s the hard-rock kind, the nu-metal kind, or the R&B / pop kind. They try to lean into everything at once, and it’s not as seamless as something like Sleep Theory (who these guys are definitely not and will probably never be).

For being a totally random band I found, I’m torn on this EP, because it has some stuff that’s not half bad, but it has some stuff that’s utterly awful. The only thing that really carries this EP is the guitarwork, because the vocals and lyrics are either really bland or really awful. It also has a couple of songs that aren’t half bad. Between “Jealousy,” and “lasttimeicried,” the hooks on those songs aren’t half bad. They don’t lean into the awful nu-metal / hip-hop that they try to emulate, but they also have some solid breakdowns and hooks to them. The guitarwork really carries this thing, but if anything, I can appreciate the vision. In theory, I like bands like this, because they take genres like metalcore, R&B, and pop, and they combine them into something more modern. This just sounds like a lot of stuff I’ve already heard, though, so it just doesn’t do much for me. Hopefully they improve more on their next EP or album, because this isn’t the worst thing I’ve heard this year, but it’s nothing good, either.

[falloutbradreviews]

First Impressions: Acres – The Host I listen to a lot of music throughout any given year, whether it’s new or new to me, but there are those bands and artists that I hear about that hyped to the nine hells, so I want to make an effort to check them out. One band I’ve been hearing about a lot the last few is Acres, a metalcore, alt-metal, and nu-metalcore band that’s been making waves, and they got signed to Solid State / Tooth & Nail. I tried listening to their last album, 2023’s Burning Throne, and I didn’t care for it. I thought it was extremely bland, uninteresting, and boring beyond belief. They embody every metalcore cliché, and it just doesn’t sound good. They aren’t bad, either, but would I listen to this when other bands that are frankly way better also exist? That sounds really mean, but I’m not going to sugarcoat how I feel in a review, because that’s what it’s all about. I’m going to be honest, whether I think something is awesome, or it’s utter garbage. This isn’t utter garbage, but I’ve got a problem with bands that do the bare minimum, or that don’t do enough to stick out from the crowd. Their last album sounded like generic Octanecore, and it wasn’t interesting in the slightest, but I saw they dropped a new album and they went more into the Octanecore direction from what I saw. They added more clean vocals, electronics, and pop elements to make for something interesting, or at least so I thought. The Host, their title of that new album, is slightly better than their last album, but this thing was a slog to get through.

Even at 23 minutes, this album was too long for my liking. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, and I’d want more, but I don’t need more. This sounds like every other Octanecore band I’ve listened to and talked about in the last year. The plus side, I guess, is that if you love a lot of these bands, you’ll like this, too, but why would you listen to this when the new albums from Sleep Theory, Memphis May Fire, Wage War, Dayseeker, Beartooth, and many more bands exist? Maybe if you want something to go along with those albums, and you’re not really picky, I can see the appeal for it, but this band is so uninteresting, I don’t get the hype. The vocals aren’t memorable or interesting, whether it’s the “generic clean chorus guy” vocals (they unfortunately get kind of grating by the end; closing track “Around Again” is the most interesting song here, as it’s a pop song, but the clean vocals are not good at all), or the super boring harsh vocals, and the instrumentation is your basic metalcore with hard-rock and alt-metal touches. The lyrics aren’t anything to write home about, either, and it’s just a slog of nothing. The album is fine for background music, but that’s it. I’m using this album as a whipping boy, I guess, because these types of bands are a dime a dozen now. I really liked a lot of Octanecore, because of how catchy, fun, and interesting it was, but go figure – when a style of music gets popular, bands copy it.

I don’t want to be too mean towards this album, because it has some stuff that isn’t horrible on it, and their sound itself isn’t bad. It’s not a bad album all in itself, but what bothers me about it is so how blatantly generic it is. It’s so painfully bland, because I’ve heard these sounds and influences done in other places, but a lot better. I don’t outright hate it, because it has some admittedly cool breakdowns, riffs, and stuff like that, but I’ve heard this done so much better in other places. I just got nothing out of this, especially enough that makes me want to go back to it. The short length isn’t bad, but even then, I’m checked out by the time it’s done, because it’s so boring and uninteresting. I just don’t have any desire to listen to this thing, but the short length is at least a plus, because I’m not spending an hour with it. I just didn’t like this thing, folks. It’s not an outright awful album, so it’s not among the worst of the year, but at the same time, it’s a very boring, bland, and generic album that sometimes is worse than being outright awful. At least outright awful albums make an impression, and even though I just listened to this, I can’t really tell you much about it. At least with Aaron Lewis’ awful album from last year, I can tell you quite a bit about it, because I won’t forget it. As awful as that is, I think something being easily forgotten is a bit worse, even it won’t make my worst list.

[falloutbradreviews]

Our Last Night – Left Alone

In the world of music, there are a lot of bands and artists that I would classify as “empty calories,” but what does that mean? Empty calories refer to foods and beverages that are high in sugar and fat content, but they don’t actually have any nutritional value. In other words, they just taste good, and I guess you could classify it as “junk food,” but there’s a place for junk food. The same can be said for music, and I classify certain acts as being “empty calories” that don’t necessarily do anything unique, exciting, or special, but they’re talented enough, or just plain catchy enough, to justify existing. I mean, bands and artists don’t have to prove their existence, but at the same time, there are so many artists out there, it’s hard to give your time to each and every single one. It makes sense to decide which ones you want to listen to, and some of them are just “junk food.” Yeah, they don’t really do anything for you other than give you some good hooks, catchy songs, and a little rush of dopamine, but that’s it. They might not be acts you come back to all the time, at least other than if you want something catchy, but they’re still good. They’re not good for you, because they don’t offer anything you can’t get somewhere else, but you still have a soft spot for them. There are tons of acts that I feel that way about, but there are those bands and artists that are empty calories in a bad way. Those are bands or artists that add literally nothing to whatever genre they’re in, and you could be listening to something else that’s a lot better, or just more interesting. Metalcore band Our Last Night is one of those bands, and I’ve finally got an excuse to talk about them.

These guys have been around since the late 00s, but I’ll be damned if I ever heard any of their material, because they were one of those bands that I knew about, I just never listened to. They seemed like a generic metalcore band, anyway, and the scene was very saturated by that point. Fast forward to about a decade ago, they started doing covers of popular songs, and that got them a big fanbase on social media. They’re basically the less famous version of I, Prevail, who genuinely got famous from a Taylor Swift cover. Now they’re one of the biggest bands on hard-rock radio, but they also didn’t make their career off Punk Goes Pop covers. That’s essentially what Our Last Night ended up doing, so for the past decade, they’re just been making Punk Goes Pop versions of popular songs at the time. I remember the Punk Goes Pop series from the 00s, and I was always mixed on those, because some of those covers were really cool, but they’re instantly dated with whatever songs are there, and the covers are usually just generic metalcore / post-hardcore versions of the song. They just add screams and breakdowns, and ultimately do nothing to make the song actually good or unique. That’s what Our Last Night do in a nutshell, and while I’m not sure who cares about them that much to want to hear them cover every popular song under the sun, they have a big enough fanbase to do this, I guess. What I don’t think their fans care about is original music from them, because they barely put out original music anymore, and when they do, they don’t promote it as much as their covers.

I randomly came across them on TikTok for the first time in about a year, and I saw there they just put out a new album, so I figured I’d check it out. Entitled Left Alone, I wish I did that with this album, am I right? I gest, but this album isn’t good, folks. I don’t like this at all, but this is the kind of empty calories I was talking about. This is one of the most generic, lifeless, and boring albums I’ve heard all year. It’s also one of the longest albums I’ve heard, but it’s only 33 minutes, so take that as you will. This album feels like it will never end, but that’s because it’s all the same thing over and over again, so you feel like you’re listening to a 33-minute long song. These songs are also totally indistinguishable from their covers, because it just sounds like generic metalcore with breakdowns and screams inserted at random points. I talked about how this stuff can be enjoyable, especially when it’s done well, and the new Memphis May Fire is a good example of that. That’s not an album I really love, or anything like that, but that album is fun, catchy, and enjoyable enough that I can look past it. The performances are good enough on there that its generic sound can be overlooked, even for a bit, because it’s just mindless fun. This, however, is boring beyond belief, and it just feels like one long song. It sounds like an AI generator wrote this album, but it’s not fun. That’s the key, it just sounds like the band is checking off boxes, whether it’s the cliched breakdowns in the bridge, the screams, or the generic lyrics, instead of just having fun. This is Octanecore, but the bottom of the barrel, because that’s the only type of person I can imagine liking this. The only type of person I can see liking this is someone that only listens to Sirius Octane and nothing else, because who would want this?

The album’s biggest crime was only being a generic snoozefest with some of the most uninspired, generic, and forgettable songs I’ve heard all year, but then I hit “NPC.” This is one of the worst songs I’ve heard all year, and it admittedly does try something different, but not in a good way. This is a song that sounds like A Day To Remember, because it starts off as a pop-punk song but has a super heavy bridge then switches back to pop-punk by the end. It’s definitely a more unique cut on the album, but it’s bad for both the song itself not being very good, and the lyrics being some of the worst garbage I’ve heard all year. This song is all about how phones and social media are bad, I guess, and people are “NPC’s,” because of how much they look at their screens. It’s done in such an obnoxious way, like they think they’re saying something unique, but they aren’t. This is a message that’s been done to death, and it really sucks here, because they don’t add anything to the conversation, but it comes off very pretentious and annoying. The song just sucks, too, but the message not being any good doesn’t help. It also doesn’t help that the performances on this album overall just aren’t that good, and that’s a big reason why I enjoy something like the new Memphis May Fire album. It’s not a great album, but the performances are done well enough that I look past it.

Vocalist Trevor Wentworth just isn’t good vocalist, I’m sorry to say. He isn’t horrible, and he can sing, I guess, but his voice is so flat, boring, and uninteresting. That’s kind of why I don’t get the appeal of their covers, because this guy isn’t that good, so why is he covering better songs? I don’t know, folks, I just don’t like this album. It’s one of the worst albums I’ve heard all year, but it doesn’t beat a few others I’ve heard this year. It’s close, but it’s not offensively bad. If anything, this album sucks, because it’s so blatantly lazy and uninspired, but it doesn’t even try to do anything unique. Left Alone is just a record that doesn’t even try to stand out in any way, but it doesn’t need to. These guys know what kind of band they are, and they’re fine with just making generic metalcore covers, but I figured their actual music would be more interesting. I don’t know why I thought that, but that’s wishful thinking, I suppose. Even with albums I don’t like, I can still recommend them to people that may like this, but who wants this? I really do not get who wants this album, and maybe I never will, but I wouldn’t recommend this. This album is like an flavored rice cake: you can listen to it, I guess, and you’ll get music with vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation, but why would you want that when you can get something with more flavor and something you’ll savor, versus something so bland and uninteresting?

[falloutbradreviews]

Memphis May Fire – Shapeshifter

With how big nostalgia has become over the last handful of years, whether it’s bands and artists releasing anniversary editions of albums, doing tours for an album released a certain year, various iterations of Emo Nite popping up throughout the country, and younger artists being influenced by artists of the past, it’s interesting how things can come full circle when those same bands and artists that are riding the nostalgia bandwagon end up releasing some of their best music in the last decade or two. Silverstein just dropped one of their best records in years almost a couple of months ago, and Underoath just dropped their best album in about 17 years (I’ll be reviewing that pretty soon, but I quite like it), but with that said, there are bands and artists that keep beating a dead horse until its corpse is no longer recognizable as just that. I have a few bands in mind that won’t let nostalgia go in favor of looking towards the future, but there are also those bands that are comfortable in a lane and they just stay there. Memphis May Fire is one of those bands, for better or worse. I remember when these guys first got big back in 2009; their debut album, Sleepwalking, is a classic from the late 00s and early 2010s, because their brand of metalcore started off as taking southern rock and combining that with metalcore. It was a southern groove with Hot Topic metalcore, and it ripped really hard, but as time went on, they realized that they could just become a generic metalcore band and their fans would eat it up.

Here we are, fifteen years later, and they’re still pumping out the same generic stuff that they always have. I haven’t listened to this band in maybe a decade, because a couple of their albums I don’t recognize (or I just don’t remember hearing them, which wouldn’t be surprising), but I decided to give their newest album, entitled Shapeshifter, a listen. I’ve become a fan of what I’ve deemed Octanecore over the past handful of years, too, which is this new brand of hard-rock, radio-rock, and radio-metalcore that is heavy enough to be considered outsider music but accessible enough that it can be played on Sirius XM radio. Bands like Wage War, Beartooth, and even Memphis May Fire can be considered Octanecore, at least to a degree. I listened to some of the singles from Shapeshifter before its release (which, by the way, they released like eight songs from this album before it came out; I don’t understand why, because by the time it finally came out, there were two new songs, so it must suck to be a fan of them and having almost next to nothing to listen to that’s new on the actual release day), and I felt as though they were AI-generated metalcore songs, but I kind of liked them. A lot of genres of music can be fun in the right circumstances, depending on the situation, time of year, and where you are in the world, and that includes Octanecore. There are a lot of these bands that I like, but I only listen to them when I’m in the mood for it.

Octanecore, like a handful of other styles of music, is something you can listen to when you want to, for the lack of a better phrase, “turn your brain off.” I don’t usually say something like that, because you can enjoy anything you want without having to feel like you need to dumb yourself down, but I don’t listen to that type of music when I want to have an existential crisis. You know what you’re getting into when you listen to an album like Shapeshifter, whether it’s soaring clean chorus hooks, rapid fire metalcore riffs on the verses, and a breakdown later on in the bridge, but it’s a tried-and-true formula that works well. MMF is a band that perfected it, but it also helps that Wage War rhythm guitarist Cody Quistad had a hand in writing this record. He’s the king of this Octanecore sound these days, and his songwriting is both catchy and sharp and lazy and formulaic at the same time. I weirdly have both of those thoughts while listening to this album, but at the end of the day, it’s catchy, fun, energetic, and sharp enough that it works for what it is. That’s the key – for what it is. For being an album called Shapeshifter, this album doesn’t do that. It stays in its lane, minus a couple of moments here and there, but it ultimately stays in that metalcore and Octanecore world. If you love that kind of sound, I think you’ll have a blast here, and this would make for a fun album when I’m in the mood for this type of sound. It knows what it is, and it doesn’t try to be anything more, especially when it’s only a half hour long. You can make the argument that it sucks, and I won’t completely disagree with you, but I’ve got a soft spot for stuff like this. When it works for me, it works for me, so what can I say? This album isn’t one of the best of the year, but it’s an album I enjoy, nonetheless.

[falloutbradreviews]

A Day To Remember’s Big Ole Album, Vol 1 Is A Fascinatingly Bad One Florida pop-punk / metalcore band A Day To Remember is one of the biggest bands in the scene, and they have been for the past 15 years, give or take. When 2009’s Homesick came out, the scene was blown away by it, myself included. I never got too huge into them, but that album is the one album from that I really like, but they’ve never quite been able to replicate that magic. That album was lightning in a bottle for me, but people still really enjoy their music. These days, I don’t quite understand why, because they make some of the blandest radio-rock I’ve ever heard, but I’m getting ahead of myself. It seems like the band has been at a crossroads for the past decade or so. Starting with 2016’s Bad Vibrations, the band began to really flirt with radio rock and pop-rock, including their pop-punk and metalcore influences and sounds. They wanted to expand their sound, which I can understand, but they haven’t been able to get a happy medium between the catchier and more accessible sides of their sound to the heavier and more alternative sides that fans have loved for years. That coalesced on 2021’s You’re Welcome, which was a pretty bad album, if I do say so myself. I listened to it maybe a year or two ago, and I didn’t like it one bit, because it was a bland, boring, generic, uninteresting, and underwhelming mixture of pop, pop-rock, metalcore, Octanecore, and pop-punk. They didn’t know what they wanted to be, but the songwriting was just piss poor, and it was laughably bad.

We’re back four years later with a new album, weirdly titled Big Ole Album, Volume 1. I suppose that title makes sense, because there’s no rhyme or reasons to these songs. Hell, the first single was released almost three years ago, and that’s one reason why this album feels slapped together. They also made a weird decision to release the physical copies first, instead of dropping it on streaming; I guess that’s a boss move, but most people stream music, especially those that aren’t going to drop $30 on the vinyl of an album that they haven’t listened to. I used to drop $15 on a random CD or something that I’d find in stores, but I’m pickier now, kind of because I’m older and have less money (and my tastes aren’t what they used to be), but I wasn’t going to listen to this until it hit streaming, anyway. I’m glad I waited until that point, because Big Ole Album, Volume 1 could possibly be my contender for the worst album of the year, as well as also being one of the most fascinatingly bad albums I’ve heard in recent memory. This album isn’t just bad, it’s amazingly and fascinatingly bad. It’s one of those albums I have to keep listening to, so I can dissect each way this album is bad. I’ve heard it a few times now, and I still cannot fully grasp how shitty this album is.

I know that sounds really mean, but this album isn’t good. This album is a lot of things, and the first word I would use (aside from bad) is messy, but not necessarily in the way you think. I don’t think this album is as messy as You’re Welcome was, kind of because it’s a bit shorter than that album was, but they keep their sound to a few key ideas here – radio-rock, metalcore, and pop-punk. It’s how the album is sequenced that makes it messy, because the songs don’t have any real significance to their ordering on the album, so every song feels out of place, random, and just “there.” You’ll hear a radio-rock song, and then it’ll jump to a metalcore song out of nowhere, which isn’t a real issue, but this album reads more as a greatest hits album than an actual studio album. Almost each song, or at least certain sets of them, feel like they’re geared for a specific demographic, and a few songs are somewhat outliers, like a song that has a weird country / hard-rock sound, or a straight up pop song later in the album. It’s almost if they wrote these songs and said “okay, this is for the metalcore playlist on Spotify, this is for the pop-punk playlist, and this is for the Sirius Octane playlist,” and called it a day. Big Ole Album feels like they made it to please everyone in their fanbase, whether it’s the diehards, the casual fans, or total newcomers, and it instead pleases nobody. The general consensus I’ve seen is that a lot of their longtime fans either don’t this album at all, or only like a few songs, so the big question is, who is this album for? This record feels so bored of itself, as well as incredibly disingenuous. This album feels like they wrote it to appease others, and not themselves, because a lot of this album feels manufactured in a lab. A lot of this album feels so phoned in, whether it’s the generic lyrics that aren’t about anything (and if they are, they’re about how much they totally don’t care about what the haters have to say, yet they’re writing whole songs about it), and vocalist Jeremy McKinnon just sounds awful here. He’s not the best vocalist, anyway, but his voice has always been unique. He sounds like every other Octanecore vocalist here, though, and it just doesn’t do anything for me. That’s how I feel about the entire record, too; there are a couple of songs with decent hooks, but it’s nothing that I feel as though I need to return to, because it’s nothing more than “this is fine.” This album annoys me in the same way that the new Hands Like Houses album does, because it’s less that the actual music is bad (although in this case, it’s not good), but it’s what this album represents. This album feels so hollow, devoid of personality, and pandering to the point where this just sounds like another Octanecore band. At this point, what fans do ADTR have left? They kind of seem to exist in the same lane as Falling In Reverse, where they do big numbers and they’re successful on rock radio, but yet you never see anyone (unless it’s someone that only likes their earlier material) who likes them now. I can’t imagine who this album is for, because in trying to appeal to everyone, they somehow appeal to absolutely no one.

[falloutbradreviews]

Until I Wake – Renovate

For better or worse, the band Bad Omens kinda changed modern metal. Well, metalcore, specifically, but their brand of metalcore also intersects between electronic, R&B, pop, and hard-rock, and it’s something that a lot of bands are utilizing these days. I call it Octanecore, because it’s the type of metalcore that’s mainly popular on Sirius Octane. I’ve talked about this type of metalcore before, and I’ve championed it many times over, whether it’s liking the newest projects from Wage War or Rain City Drive, but saturation has already begun to take hold. You could argue that I Prevail helped to make that style of metalcore popular, and they walked so Bad Omens could run. If you’re a fan of this type of heavy music, I get it, because it’s both catchy and heavy at the same time. It’s accessible enough for newcomers to get into, but it’s also heavy enough to be something more than just generic rock or alternative. I like this type of metalcore myself, too, but there are a lot of imitators and cash grabbers, I suppose I want to say. A lot of these bands sound similar, at least without sticking out from one another, and that’s what I look for most.

Up until literally after hearing their new album, Until I Wake was a band that I thought stuck out. I really enjoyed their debut from 2022, although I didn’t hear it until 2023, but it was a great mix of mid-00s crabcore and Octanecore. The band got a new vocalist in between the time that album came out, and their new one, entitled Renovate. I forgot all about this thing until I saw it the other day, so I wanted to give it a listen, because some other metalcore albums came out recently that I wanted to dive into. I’ve been listening to a lot of hip-hop and pop the last couple of weeks, so I’m in the mood for something heavier. After listening to this album, however, it doesn’t live up to its title at all, because this album doesn’t renovate anything. I’m almost glad I didn’t listen to it when it came out last year, because it would have most likely went onto my worst of list.

No, this album isn’t outright bad, but it’s a disappointing listen. Renovate is the most generic and by-the-numbers Octanecore album I’ve heard in a long time. The last thing I’d describe this album as is renovating, because it doesn’t renovate any kind of sound, but keeps it the exact same and doesn’t change anything. Hell, they kind of backtrack what they did on their last album, because this is more generic and bland. The new vocalist doesn’t stick out at all, despite being fine, so the clean choruses aren’t all that catchy and the heavy moments aren’t that fun or memorable. There are some cool breakdowns, but they don’t quite amount to anything. The lyrics are just as bland as you can get, too, and I kid you not, one of the last songs on here has a lyric that goes “we are the youth gone wild and free,” like it’s 2013. That lyric alone makes me cringe so hard, honestly, but that’s luckily as bad as it gets.

This album is just bland and forgettable at its core, despite playing with some styles that are outside of the Octanecore playbook. There’s a pop-punk song here, which I think is the same one where that cringy lyric comes from, but it’s also a bland song that also makes for a weird outlier, so I don’t know. I was kind of excited to hear this, because their debut was pretty solid, albeit generic. This is just generic without being interesting or fun. Instead of leaning to the past with a modern approach, they just stay in the present, but don’t even attempt to stick out. This album will fare well with the Octanecore crowd, especially with those that only listen to the singles on the radio, but this is pretty forgettable stuff. I’m surprised I had as much to say as I did, but it’s just a big disappointment; this would have been an honorable mention on my worst of list, but nonetheless, it’s still a disappointment.

[falloutbradreviews]

Defences - Shadowlight

Throughout this year, I’ve talked about a lot of what I’ve come to call “Octanecore,” which is the nickname I give to metal and hard-rock bands that are primed for Sirius XM Octane. These bands have a similar sound, but it’s not a sound I totally mind, either. They all are in the realm of hard-rock, metalcore, or alt-metal. Sometimes they’re all three, or they specialize in one, but they have elements of all three. You could argue that certain bands are Octanecore, but they’ve been grandfathered into the name. You could call any metal band with catchy hooks “Octanecore,” but I think ever since bands like Spiritbox and Bad Omens got big a few years back, a lot of these bands are popping up.

If they aren’t popping up, they’re changing their sound to fit that mold. Both Beartooth and Wage War are two bands that morphed into that sound over the past few years. Nonetheless, a lot of bands have been popping up with that sound, or some semblance to it, including English outfit Defences. Apparently this band has been around since 2017, but this is my first time listening to them, specifically with their third album, Shadowlight. I read a review of the album, and had an idea of what to expect, but after listening to it, I was pleasantly surprised, although this album isn’t perfect. I don’t necessarily love this thing, but Shadowlight is pretty good.

They really take the Octanecore sound, as well as a shade of R&Bcore in the vein of Issues. and do something rather fun with it. Their brand of Octanecore is pretty generic, but it’s done well for what it is. There aren’t any moments that really blew me away, but there were a lot of moments I enjoyed. What’s sort of disappointing, however, is that despite the band having two vocalists, and both of them being very good (seriously, they’re wonderful), there aren’t that many memorable hooks here. It’s a shame, because the vocals are really good, but there’s not much done with them.

The heavier moments are pretty cool, but they’re also generic and nothing special, so I don’t know how to feel about it. They’re not bad, and they’re enjoyable, but a lot of the bands I mentioned in the beginning have this same sound, only better. That’s kind of harsh to say, especially where this band has been around for as long as those bands have (and possibly longer), but this is relatively generic stuff that doesn’t go above and beyond.

I will say, however, that it’s worth hearing if you enjoy this sound, and if you can’t get enough bands like it. They do have an interesting edge with some R&Bcore sounds and influences showing up every now and again, especially with the slow and moody “Inspirit,” which really shows off the vocals and the slower side of this band. The R&B elements don’t show up much, or they’re very fleeting when they do, but that would a cool element for them to explore in future albums. It would definitely set them apart, especially with Issues being gone now, and there’s a hole to fill in that vein. I like this album, but this band needs that knockout song or album to really get people to look at them as something more than a knockoff.

[falloutbradreviews]

Fame On Fire - The Death Card

Thanks to the Punk Goes Pop series from the last fifteen years (although the Punk Goes series has been around way longer than that), a lot of bands think they can just put out a generic metalcore / post-hardcore cover of a pop song, and think they’re cool because it has screams and breakdowns in it. It worked for a couple of bands, especially I Prevail, who got big off a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” and Our Last Night eventually just became a glorified cover band. Whatever gets the bag, I guess, but who would want to listen to that?

Another band that started off in that lane, and still kind of leans that way, is Fame On Fire. I’ve heard of them for years now, but never bothered to check them out, because seeing a metalcore band with nothing but covers of pop songs doesn’t sound good. Maybe if I was 15, I’d think it was cool, but I’m not into those types of songs anymore. I saw that Fame On Fire dropped a couple of albums in the last four years, including a debut in 2020 and a second album in 2022, all of which are on Hopeless Records, which is interesting, because I wouldn’t expect them to sign a band like that, but I digress.

I never heard good things about them, so I never bothered, but I saw where they dropped their newest album, The Death Card, and something compelled me to check it out. I also listened to their first two albums, and needless to say, The Death Card is their best album by far, although it’s not exactly an album to write home about (but it’s still really damn good).

Their debut album, 2020’s Levels, is essentially a 2010s Risecore album that dropped in 2020, for some reason; while it isn’t bad, it’s a pretty generic album. Welcome To Chaos, however, is a messy album that really doesn’t know what it wants to be, because it goes into a few directions that never add up, such as metalcore, pop-metal, rap-metal, or hard-rock. Plus, that album also has a few really bad moments, both musically and lyrically, so they could only go up from there, right? Like I said, The Death Card isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s also quite good, especially for what it is, and sometimes that’s all you need.

The Death Card is the band’s most “serious” album, as this album is pretty straight faced, and it’s also their most focused album, as the sound lingers somewhere between Octanecore, metalcore, and hard-rock. Sure, they don’t do anything that other bands haven’t already done in that vein, but their vocalist kind of carries this thing. He carried their other two albums, too, and that’s part of the reason why they aren’t total dumpster fires, but this record is the most grounded of them all. The lyrics are easily its weakest link, but even then, they aren’t as outright awful as some of the lyrics on their first two albums, so it could be a lot worse, and for what it’s worth, this record is solid for what they’re trying to do.

There isn’t a whole lot more to say about this record, but it’s one of those albums that works for what it is. If you’re looking for an Octanecore album with some solid hooks, vocals, and a few breakdowns here and there, you’ll dig this. I’ve been going back to this a lot more than I thought I would, and I never really got into this band beforehand, but I’m having a good time with this thing. That’s surprising, considering that I’ve been listening to a couple of albums I like a lot, such as Lakeview and Keith Buckley’s new band, so this is the album that I’ve been revisiting most, but it’s just that good.

[falloutbradreviews]

Wage War - Stigma

Now that the fifth album from Wage War, Stigma, has been out for the last few days, it’s been interesting and frustrating to see the discourse with this album, but it’s not surprising. The discourse that I’ve seen when it comes to Stigma is really from metalcore fanboys that love their first two albums (mind you, they’re from almost a decade ago), and they’re both oddly shocked and angry that they went into a more radio-friendly / Octanecore sound. They’ve been doing that for the past five years, especially with 2019’s Pressure, so I’m surprised people are just now realizing they’ve been doing that. 2021’s Manic was very similar, but had a nu-metalcore influence that was really cool. Manic was actually my favorite Wage War record, but Wage War is a band that I’ve enjoyed for years.

Yeah, Wage War is one of the first modern metalcore bands that got me into the genre again after being so disillusioned by the genre in the early 2010s, and I’ve been a fan of them since. I’ve actually quite enjoyed their pivot into more radio-friendly territory, and Stigma is arguably their most radio-friendly yet. Why do we automatically think it’s a bad thing, though? Wage War has always had a knack for catchy hooks, and they utilize them well here. Honestly, Stigma is one of my favorite albums of the year, especially when I haven’t loved a whole lot of metalcore and heavy music itself throughout 2024.

There’s a lot to like here, whether it’s their knack of catchy hooks being utilized even more so, or their sound being more evolved than ever before. Vocally, these guys are on top, and I’ve always loved both their harsh and clean vocals, but they’re both truly wonderful here. Songs like “Magnetic,” “Blur,” and “Is This How It Ends,” really showcase this. Instrumentally, they’re interesting, too, and it’s evident from opener “The Show’s About Topic Start,” where the band moves into an industrial / Rob Zombie type sound that even has a few danceable beats on the record here and there, but it’s really energetic and a ton of fun.

Some people may be put off by the change in sound, but I welcome it, personally. I love the danceable moments on this record, or the really low vocals that remind me of Korn, but this album still has its fair share of breakdowns and heavier moments. “Tombstone” is one of their best songs, and I’ve seen the argument that this song feels so out of place, but I don’t know about that. I think it helps that this album is so short, at only 31 minutes, it’s a very brief listen. It never feels like it goes on longer than it needs to, and because of its length, it begs for multiple listens, at least not feeling so exhausted after listening to it. It’s not an album I get tired of, and I’ve been enjoying albums like that a lot more lately.

Stigma is easily going to be this band’s most divisive record, and for good reason, because I can see if it doesn’t work for you. The Octanecore sound is in full force here, including some industrial moments, and the “sellout” accusations are sure to follow, but I’m not one to accuse bands of that, or even care. Look, as great as their early albums are, they’re also very generic and by-the-numbers metalcore albums that don’t do anything different or new, whereas their later albums are more interesting and catchier. I really love this record, discourse be damned. It’s a fun metalcore record, what can I say?

[falloutbradreviews]

Defects - Modern Error

I think I’ve talked about it before, but metalcore has evolved into what I’ve seen referred to as “Octanecore.” That’s the combination of metalcore and hard-rock, where metalcore bands become more palatable for mainstream audiences by throwing in more hard-rock sounds and ideas, named for Octane Radio, but it’s not all bad. Some of my favorite bands went in that direction, especially Beartooth with their last couple of albums. Their last LP is a metalcore album with some of the best hooks I heard all heard, and it worked awfully well, but that’s because Caleb Shomo is one of the best songwriters in the scene. That’s not true for every band, unfortunately, but there are tons of decent ones in this space.

Enter the band Defects, a British band that’s been getting a little bit of buzz, especially with their debut album, Modern Error, being finally released. I saw this album on the new releases within Apple Music, and I was debating on checking it out, so my curiosity got the best of me a couple days back. I ended up listening to Defects, and honestly, it’s a decent little album. I say “little,” but this album is actually 50 minutes long. That’s the first issue this album has — it’s way too long. Albums like this don’t need to be an hour long, unless you can back up that length and make it interesting, but this album doesn’t quite do that. After a couple of listens, this album already started to wear on me, despite still being solid for what it was.

I think that’s the key, though. It’s solid for what it is, so if you enjoy this type of metalcore, you’ll dig this album, but if you don’t, you’ll get nothing out of this. The heavier moments are pretty cool, albeit nothing special, but another big issue that this album has is that it repeats itself quite a bit with its ideas. This album alternates between the hard-rock and metalcore sounds, but it does open up a bit more in the second half, so you get some slower and more atmospheric moments, but it still gets derivative of itself. If this album were a lot shorter, I think I’d really enjoy this, and to an extent, I do like it, but it’s such a slog to get through sometimes. There’s a lot of the same song structures and ideas being repeated here, but if you love this kind of metalcore, I don’t think it’ll bother you.

At 50 minutes, it’s kind of a long album, especially for its sound, but if you like this kind of stuff, I think you’ll have a good time with it. If anything, I can appreciate this as a debut that shows a lot of potential. If they honed their sound, they could easily become one of the heavyweights in the genre, so I’m gonna keep my eyes on these guys, even if this record doesn’t quite become an album of the year contender. Not everything needs to be, as I’ve said before, but it’s good for what it is. I like it, but I don’t quite love it, although that doesn’t mean this is outright bad. It’s worth a listen if you enjoy modern metalcore and this new wave of “Octanecore.”