Harper is one of the most exciting modern metal phenomenons in the last few years. A ten-year old girl doing harsh vocals professionally is already amazing as is, but hitting America's Got Talent, joining Pale Chord Records and now a collaboration with two of modern metal's strongest bands is as left field as it gets. Weight Of The World boasts writing and production credits to Brand Of Sacrifice and a vocal feature from We Came As Romans' David Stephens.
I think the most shocking thing to me is how quickly her vocals have improved, it is insane how much more professional she sounds only 10 months after her first single. Falling was a solid display of talent for a debut, but it was clear there was still potential yet to be realised. Weight Of The World feels extremely polished and clean compared to Falling, and for good reason.
I think credit has to be given to the Brand Of Sacrifice boys for the production work, which plays a significant part in making this song stand so well. Their electronic deathcore sound plays a strong influence here despite the metalcore setting, and the mixing and mastering of the vocals results in a much tighter and cleaner scream texture. That said, it is undeniable that her harsh vocals have improved astoundingly. The fact that she has solid lows already blows my mind, but the more subtle sign is of how consistently robust her harsh vocals are throughout: They don't falter at all, the grit and distortion is strong, and she's beginning to develop a distinct tone. David taking the chorus is a great choice, both because his sing-screams are amazing, and because it is a really smart creative choice. I'm willing to bet Harper hasn't fully realised her singing and sing-scream potential, so it may have dulled the overall song experience a small bit, but it is also just a flex to drop a harsh-vocals only track to cement her standing in heavy modern metal.
Although Harper has little to do with the instrumentals, I commend the improvement between this and Falling. I get the impression that there was a much stronger musical direction with this song and a clearer goal in mind, whereas Falling felt too experimental and lacked cohesiveness. No hate to Chris Wiseman at all, and I get the desire to avoid the generic metalcore rabbit hole, but it's hard to argue against the fact that this song turned out so much better. And all things considered, metalcore is a great genre to show off vocals on, which is exactly what Harper does.
Harper has swiftly gone from someone I kept an eye on because she had potential to become good, to someone I'm going to keep an eye on because she has potential to blow up the scene in time. I'm excited to see where she heads next and what collaborations might come with this, and I'm sure her journey ahead will only get crazier.
Rating: 3.5/5