END - Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face Review

As we finish off perhaps the strangest academic (or general) year in an extremely long time, graduation for many has been sacrificed for online meetings and rotating-car ceremonies. Recounting my graduation from high school a few years ago, I adorned my cap with a simple black background, and in an Olde English font brandished You Will Never Be One Of Us. Obviously a shoutout to the 2016 Nails album of the same name, it not only showed my extremely obscure taste in music but also shouted a sentiment somewhat befitting of the pride-filled ceremony. I also really dug that album, as I do still all of their releases, and that ultimately brings me to my main point. In my punk subgenres, I want things unbridled as can be. Mathcore giants like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan are both extremely erratic as well masterfully crafted to create some of the most intricate music out there. Orchid is a massively under-appreciated group that brings out the best in emo and power violence while remaining unjustly heavy. And Nails brings one of the heaviest interpretations of power violence by blending it with another of the most brutal genres out there, grindcore. This brings us to END.

With origins in Counterparts, Fit For An Autopsy, Structures, the metalcore/power-violence hybrid that END brings is super interesting and completely unexpected; it remains unbelievably blistering in speed and ferocity while keeping song structures that are both digestible and diverse. With 33 minutes of aggressive gut-punching music, the visceral nature of this release never lets up. The debut opens off with "Covet Not," a smashing and unrelenting track. The instrumentation accelerates from 0 to 100 in approximately eight seconds, and the often mentioned Nails comparison discovers its justification even here. The breakdowns, gang vocals and thunderous rhythm section are all big parts of that three-piece, and show up with this supergroup's first full-length effort. This continues with "Pariah," which is easily the best (or at the very least, most catchy) song on the album. A chugging intro riff brings us to the halfway point of the track where a guitar and drum solo brings through our first of two breakdowns. Then, it becomes dead silent until Brendan Murphy of Counterparts fame screams "YOUR FUCKING...END!" - I bet you know where the instrumentation comes back. It is super corny, but it's massively heavy and drives home the rest of the track to a larger than life conclusion.

It makes sense that "Pariah" was the first single, but that brings up one of my few gripes with this release. The songs that really bring it home are stunningly strong, with X amount of influences popping their head into the mosh-ready bangers. The rest is pretty one-note, as power violence usually is, but still remarkably strong. Just because "They Come Crawling Back" is the best song on You Will Never Be One Of Us, that doesn't mean the rest suck. It's just a lot of the "same." If you can handle over thirty minutes of brutal metalcore on a regular, this one is not far from what you are looking for. Speaking of which, the next two tracks, "Absence" and "The Reach of Ressurection," bring the blistering speed akin to Abandon All Life or Unsilent Death, but also touch on the slower sections of a group like Full of Hell. The "drone" on Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face reminds me heavily of "Armory of Obsidian Glass" from their 2019 release Weeping Choir. Both of these songs are pretty strong themselves and find a healthy place in the tracklist.

"Fear For Me Now" and "Hesitation Wounds" are the last two singles on the album, and tow a very nice line between metalcore and power-violence, chock to the brim with rapid-fire drums, monolithic breakdowns, and riffs-a-plenty. The later, like many tracks on the album, features an unsettling audio sample before, between, or after the madness. Both of these tracks are displays of fury unlike most in metalcore, and the performances from every member of the band are exceptional. "Captive to My Curse" has an opening riff that sounds like a grindcore version of Daughter's "Guest House," and utilizes its extremely short runtime to its advantage, pummeling the mix with massive chords and brutal drums. The following song, "Evening Arms" picks up where the last left off, delivering another driving metalcore track that stomps through leaving no head uncrashed.

The mauling doesn't stop on "An Apparition," and the two-minute cut begins as a battering display of power grind, that gradually chugs to a fade-out conclusion. Another gripe that I find myself seeing in this release is the endings of most of the non-single tracks. Usually, its either some sort of fade-out or a sample thrown in as the music ends. I don't have an issue with it normally when used sparingly, but here it's pretty blatantly part of the sound, and therefore, if I have any points to take away from this release, it is here. "Every Empty Vein" exemplifies this. The first minute is comprised of remorseless grindcore, only to fade to a 30-second sample to lead to the final track.

Speaking of "Sands of Sleep," this sounds very reminiscent of my favorite Nails track, the previously mentioned "They Come Crawling Back." The distorted power chords lead off the cut with a bang but pull back for a while as atmosphere builds with reserved instrumentation. This doesn't last long, and the headbanging chugs return. The ebb of this track is really nice, weaving between grand guitar walls and dissonant picking atmosphere. Around the midpoint of the 5-minute track, it explodes into a colossal breakdown that disassembles the track piece by piece, breaking down to slower and slower tempos that grow increasingly heavy. Its a really awesome way to end the album, and a great way to launch END into the spotlight. These guys aren't trying to do anything new here, at least I don't hear that. Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face is just a balls-to-the-walls heavy release, with a strong slue of performances to boot. While some of the fadeouts and samples seem, to me, unnecessary, I understand their inclusion and respect their artistic merit. This is hands-down the best metalcore release of this year, and it will be very hard to top.

Final Verdict: "PARIAH! YOUR FUCKING END!"
Favorite Tracks: "Pariah," "Sands of Sleep," "Captive to My Curse"
FFO: Nails, Full of Hell, Orchid

Track List

1. "Covet Not"

2. "Pariah"

3. "Absence"

4. "The Reach of Resurrection"

5. "Fear For Me Now"

6. "Hesitation Wounds"

7. "Captive to My Curse"

8. "Evening Arms"

9. "An Apparition"

10. "Every Empty Vein"

11. "Sands of Sleep"

You can support the band through their Bandcamp.