I caught wind of the supergroup END coming back for another album, and I was intrigued. Their lethal brand of violent metalcore and hardcore has had its merits, but I was curious if they could hook me in with a full album. I followed the singles, and before the album even came out, they got me.
Thaw is probably the song on the album that's the furthest out. Where every other song boasts a brutal entirety, this one has a touch of melodic darkness and ominosity in place of rage. As much as I love how caveman the other songs are, there's something quite appealing about a song infused with so much character, how varied it is and how much it evolves.
The tremolo riff at the start brings a lot of the sinisterness to the table, perpetuating throughout the song even as they add more and more to the song. Coupled with that dark clean arpeggio later on, most of the atmosphere is set up nicely. The drum grooves and electronic beats are a really nice vibe as well, especially with that drum solo, a very unique and tasteful addition to the song.
The screams are super vibrant against this backdrop of sound, I love how villainous they sound when recontextualised like this. The production helps a lot too, some of the reverb and layering are very well done. The talking parts are really cool as well, it adds a lot of depth to the feel of the song. Debbie Gough is a great vocal feature too, her screams bring in this contrasting harsh vocal texture that really shifts the tone of the whole song, and does especially well on the breakdown callout. Absolute menace.
Breakdown is super fun, the callout line is intense, the delivery is golden. The 6/4 groove is pretty simple but immensely satisfying, making for some crazy rhythm coupled with the vocals. By far my favourite part of the song, and the whole album too. Love the cleans right after too, I think it's the only singing featured on the album but it fits the vibe perfectly.
Thaw stands out so much in this album because it's really the only song with any amount of variety in a collection of relentless ragers, of which I could say blur together a bit if you're not paying attention. In some ways you could consider this the soft song or the ballad of the album, but I like to think of it as the best song on the album. Pure hardcore never had my heart quite like melodic core does.
Rating: 4/5