(Andy Synn wants to have a conversation with you about a new band and their killer debut)
As you all surely know, we are big proponents of balance here at NCS… for every light a dark, for every yin a yang, and for every big, iconic name we cover there must be a smaller, more underground artist we can give a helping hand to.
And, lo and behold, here we have The Conversation (out tomorrow), the debut album from wild-eyed Math-Punk Metalcore crew Lockslip, to even the scales once more.
It’s clear right from the start – with the blast-fed, shrapnel spewing strains of explosive opener “Gray World” taking the album from 0-60 in approximately 20 seconds or less – that Lockslip worship at the altar of the Holy Trinity of caustic complexity, i.e. Converge, Car Bomb, and Cult Leader.
Whether they’re sneering and snarling and sniping like the former circa-Jane Doe on “Vengeance (You’ll Be Seen By Your God”), chopping and churning with the ugly intensity of the latter during “Speak Without Words”, or slipping and sliding through strange time-signatures and equally weird, shapeshifting grooves like the other (“Paradise Is Not For Us”), it’s very clear that the Californian quintet know ball, and have spent a solid amount of time studying the moves of the masters.
That’s not to say they don’t have their own voice – the literal voice of volatile vocalist Sara G. being one of the album’s highlights, as it happens – as there’s never a moment where they sound exactly like any of their influences, no matter how far they lean into the Mathcore, Tech Death, or Grind influenced sides of their sound.
In fact, the increasing push towards more and more extremity – coupled with the occasional lethal dose of fret-scraping technicality (“Rattle of Death”) or even an unexpected dash of dark melody (“I’m the Same”) – also reminds me as much of the famous “three Fs” of grind-inspired chaos, namely Frontierer, Fawn Limbs (especially when Noah Baxter really cuts loose), and Full of Hell, in terms of just how wildly unpredictable, but weirdly infectious, the resultant madness is.
Sure, there’s an argument to be made that the band still have a little way to go until they step outside of the long, long shadow cast by their progenitors – and, I’ll admit, a bit more variety in the vein of bass-heavy, riff-happy late-album standout “Cut Out the Odds” and catheric, Post-Metal leaning closer “End the Conversation” would certainly help in that regard – but, then again, sometimes it’s only by standing on the shoulders of giants that we can reach the heights we’re aiming for.
And Lockslip have certainly aimed high on their debut, that’s for sure.