Slam death metal is never usually my thing, as I tend to avoid the more brutal death metal subgenres, but Fanguine takes on a strong diverse direction in both the music and lyrical themes, instead of just gore, gore, and more gore. The music sounds quite good despite still sounding brutal, with several other metal genres thrown into their main technical/slam death metal sound. A couple highlights for me are the final two tracks; "Let Me Explain" with its "broken transmission" deathcore, and "Genocidal Genesis", a decently long progressive epic that still stands by their usual sound. I can definitely imagine the latter track making history in the extreme metal scene, and that final verse with "Angel of Death"-esque Nazi lyrics would definitely be making headlines. Lots of great moments in the album! Still too brutal for me, but highly recommendable for the more extreme metalheads. I give that album a personal rating of 3/5, or a percentage rating of 64%.
Emotional Suffering - Nocturnal Solitude
Primary genres: deathcore, melodic death metal
Secondary genres: dark folk, symphonic black metal, gothic metal
In November 19, 2027, an album is released to continue the rising scene of epic deathcore popularized by bands like Shadow of Intent, Lorna Shore, and Mental Cruelty. This is... Nocturnal Solitude by Emotional Suffering, a deathcore/melodic death metal band from Wisconsin. They expand on the dark lyrical themes mostly of death, depression, and loss, close to the lyrical themes that many doom metal bands have, but of course in a different sound. While sticking firmly in melodic deathcore, elements of genres like dark folk, symphonic black metal, and gothic metal are added into the mix. The ethereal yet spooky cover art is by a young artist inspired by the late Mariusz Lewandowski, a tree being blown heavily by a dark lightning storm, with a background mirage of a Grim Reaper. After the short symphonic blackened deathcore introductory title track that starts with a one-minute intro, you can expect a solid run of diverse melodic deathcore. Background female vocals can be found in the tracks "Darkness and Sorrow", "It's All We've Loved", and "Beyond the Killing End". The latter track is the 3-part 16-minute final epic, in a similar vein to the title suites of Shadow of Intent's Elegy and Lorna Shore's Pain Remains, though indexed as a full track. The second part is a 4-minute dark folk/ambient interlude, sandwiched between the two other 6-minute parts that have the usual melodic deathcore sound with symphonic black metal elements. The third part has less emphasis on deathcore, but it unleashes one final deathcore breakdown that, despite not being a single, can surpass that of Lorna Shore's "To the Hellfire", and a one-minute dark folk outro to end the album. Or at least the standard edition of the album. The edition released in Japan has a bonus track, a cover of Lorna Shore's "Immortal" released on YouTube the prior year, so popular upon upload, that's how they have gained a record label. The album sells well in a steady pace, and the aforementioned final breakdown and folk outro is often played at the end of concerts.
Lyrical themes: sadness (1, 5, 6, 7), death (2, 3, 4, 8, 9), loss (2, 4, 5, 6, 7), sorrow (3, 4, 8, 9), depression (3, 5, 7, 8)
1. Nocturnal Solitude (2:53, dark folk, deathcore, symphonic black metal)
2. Cut Up Alone (4:42, deathcore, melodic death metal)
3. Darkness and Sorrow (3:25, deathcore, gothic metal, melodic death metal)
4. Dead Tomorrow After Living Today (6:15, deathcore, melodic death metal, technical death metal)
5. Coma Eclipse (4:43, deathcore, folk metal, dark folk)
6. The Blackened Path of Silence (4:13, deathcore, melodic death metal)
7. Distant Calling (5:27, deathcore, melodic death metal, gothic metal)
8. It's All We've Loved (5:27, deathcore, gothic metal)
9. Beyond the Killing End (16:07, deathcore, melodic death metal, symphonic black metal, dark folk, dark ambient)
I. The Dwelling of Death (deathcore, melodic death metal, symphonic black metal)
II. Sun Without a New Year (dark folk, dark ambient)
III. It Ends Forever (melodic death metal, symphonic black metal, deathcore, dark folk)
10. Immortal (Lorna Shore cover) (Japanese edition bonus track) (6:48, deathcore, symphonic black metal, technical death metal)