Review by Saxy S for Sold Soul - I Hope We Make it Out of This Alive (2022)

If I can give I Hope We Make it Out of This Alive any bit of credit, it would be that the gothic texture of the album is given ample amounts of time to breathe. That is to say, while this album is primarily deathcore in nature, the album also has plenty of slower moments that allow the symphonic textures to actually have a dynamic impact in the compositions. So many symphonic deathcore artists in the modern day just don't understand that the strings and metal foundations do not work well together, since the guitar, vocals and drums are so overpowering. So the sections are all important in some way.

What does that mean though? It means disjointed songwriting, unbalanced mixing and a penchant for atomic drops. Since this is deathcore, I'm neither surprised or overly critical; this is just normality in the genre. That still does not make it very good! Individual songs are indifferent to connectivity and being memorable and instead focus on texture to lure the listener in. This makes its appearance through the atomic drops, unnatural transitions out from doom-y breakdowns to tech-death bridges, and melt your face off breakdowns. Some of these sound good individually, but as part of a full song, so much of this album just fells empty. It has the progressive problem of being too overly indulgent. I wish that more deathcore bands would make symphonic deathcore like this....y'know without the death metal part.

Best Songs: Summit of Dragons, Things Betwixt, For Whom the Banshee Cries