Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue #2

And so it came to pass that I managed to do another one of these in a relatively short space of time.

For those of you who missed the first instalment, this piece shares 4 pieces of music. A new one, an old one, a cover and something based, sometimes loosely, around the colour blue. Just like that old saying. You know the one.

As ever, some of the releases featured will be free to download, some of them will not. If you dig what you hear and have some disposable income, think about sending it in the direction of those featured.

Something New
Krallice - Go Be Forgotten



Krallice have been going a while now, 9 years and counting to be precise. There's a good chance you'll be familiar with them already and their hot streak that has now yielded 5 outstanding records in 2 years; including the transcendant Loüm, a collaboration with none other than Dave Edwardson of Neurosis fame that was only released in October!

The record at hand, Go Be Forgotten, is in many ways typical of Krallice in that it is bustling with ideas and the sort of musicianship that is upsetting to mere mortals but this release feels like they have stripped their sound down to the bones and sharpened said bones to better drive them in to the hearts of their enemies.

Skin rending blasts give way to mind expanding progressive sections and the whole thing forces the listener down a spiral of aggression and madness while asking them to admire the scenery. Songs like Ground Prayer and Failed Vsionary Cults are among the finest Krallice have written while more ambient moments such as those found in Quadripartite Mirror Realm are expertly placed to give enough respite that the dense listening experience is still digestable.

Something Old
Let It Die - The Liar & The Saint



Having just celebrated its 1st birthday, The Liar & The Saint is the kind of record that makes writing about hardcore redundant as it really is something to be experienced rather than described but I will do my best.

As a 3 piece that sounds like the cacophony that accompanies the end of the world, Let It Die embody the idea of the whole being more than the sum of its parts and this is reflected in this record too. 'Grinding metallic hardcore with sludge influences' is probably the sort of phrase that appears frequently on blogs such as this and while this is something that could be applied to Let It Die, the pointed, visceral delivery of songs like Dysphoria and Heaven And The Eternity Of Tears (Part II) lifts them far beyond the bravado of their all-too-often toothless peers.

Something Borrowed
Coalesce - Vehicle (Boysetsfire)


It's no secret that I love Coalesce and Coalesce love covers. They've crossed genre lines with little to no concern of the conseqeunces with covers of Black Sabbath and The Get p Kids and their really weird album of metallic hardcore Led Zeppelin covers is great in a really goofy way. This song was originally taken from a split with Boysetsfire in which they each covered a couple of one anothers songs. This one is objectively not the best cover out there but it's been with me for something like 16 years now so it has taken residence in my cholesterol blocked heart.

Something Blue
Blue Friend - I Will  Be your Blue Friend



Hailing from Japan, Blue Friend play screamo and they play it very well. Japanese bands of this style always seem to end up compared to Envy, likely for the reason that they're an easy reference point no matter how dissimilar they are. Blue Friend do not sound like Envy.

Their take on the genre is a well executed construction that incorporates the melodic strains found somewhere between the likes of Rainmaker and La Quiete with vocals that oddly enough remind me of A Case of Grenada.

That is not to say that this is merely a composite act, at its core I Will Be Your Blue Friend has a heart entirely its own that is more than capable of winning over established fans of screamo and newcomers alike