Let Mélancolia be your guide.
Born in Australia, the mysterious band consisting of Alex Hill (vocals), Joshua Taafe (guitar), Billy Morris (guitar) and Mason Page (drums) announced the release of their debut album, HissThroughRottenTeeth, in 2023 through Nuclear Blast and Greyscale Records.
The album opens with the eerie Horror_Ethereal which chokes us with a heavy atmosphere before letting aggressive Deathcore roots emerge. The combination of wild screams and heavy riffs is perfect to welcome the few piercing leads before letting them turn into heady melodies, followed by a massive break and then by Dread Will Follow, a composition playing with some majestic orchestrations to soothe the pure violence. Jerky riffs will have no trouble oppressing us while visceral screams sail through this pool of hatred until GOD TONGUE and its sublime introduction, followed again by heavier and dissonant elements. The band lets slowness bring some parts a haunting aspect before When Shovels Drag On Concrete resumes with an unconcealed contagious fury which also adds some more complex elements to its power eruptions, without ever forgetting the melodic touch of choruses. The central break allows us a moment of respite before gradually returning to violence, then The Hands That Tied The Noose reveals a dark and disturbing sweetness, which the band will come to break with monstrous screams, creating a striking contrast with the heady instrumental basis. [Inure], the next track, develops around dissonant and chaotic sounds, sometimes letting fury take over before letting it fall, waiting to ignite again, until HissThroughRottenTeeth, the eponymous track, slowly lifts the veil on soaring sounds. Saturation gradually swells up to this devastating moshpart, then the sound calms down and explodes again leading us to …a cold static eulogy, the last composition, which will end the album with the same chaotic pile of violence, rage and terrifying darkness which surrounds us until the last moment.
Mélancolia‘s universe is built between Deathcore’s strength and its dark influences’ anguish. Screams and eerie leads give HissThroughRottenTeeth a tortured but heady identity, making it weighing.
80/100
