Assemble the Chariots – Unyielding Night Review

By Dear Hollow

Although Unyielding Night is the first full-length of Finland’s Assemble the Chariots, they have long felt more veteran than their peers. Releasing a string of EPs that transition from djenty deathcore to an early progenitor of blackened deathcore, Unyielding Night is as epic a debut as they come. Simultaneously conjuring a future of an interdimensional war among the stars with the age-old philosophy of heroism and plight, it is an album devoted to all things bombastic and cinematic. Soaring symphonic soundscapes, blazing riffs, and relentless percussion combine with an original story, it tells the tragedy of the cursed planet Aquilegia against a mysterious solar system-consuming hive-mind entity called the Evermurk – excelling in lore and mythology. Unyielding Night is a blackened deathcore album and a damn good one at that: one whose attack is effective and future is tantalizing.

Unyielding Night is the first installment of the act’s planned Ephemeral Trilogy, and Assemble the Chariots’ waste no time abusing breakneck tempos and soaring atmospheres. While the trend too often, in line with Lorna Shore’s influence, has been to copy-and-paste symphonic Dimmu Borgir-esque keys atop milquetoast deathcore,1 Assemble the Chariots walks the way of Ovid’s Withering and Mental Cruelty in its relentlessness. A penchant for riffs, a blazing intensity reminiscent of Fleshgod Apocalypse, a futuristic vision akin to Mechina, and songwriting that somehow manages to balance all of it are all features of this behemoth. Featuring a boundary-pushing fusion of the traditional and the futuristic, the epic and the dismal – Assemble the Chariots offers a journey that balances the visceral and the punishing.

While Assemble the Chariots does profess deathcore, don’t expect the antics of the low-and-slow brutalizers of decades past. Unyielding Night is absolutely relentless and caustic, tempo abusing and unabated in its bombast; even its more placid spoken word-focused interludes crescendos into insanity are noteworthy. A lethal combination, symphonic overlays contrast mightily with riffs galore, as opener “Departure,” “As Was Seen By Augurers,” and “Empress” move fluidly between cutthroat riffs and shifting moods of hope and devastation, while the darker “Reavers March” and “Equinox” match the more morose and dread-inducing subjects. Power metal’s more decadent theatricality makes appearances in the warbling tenor of “Emancipation” and the Kamelot-esque choirs of “Galactic Order” and “Keeper of the Stars” offer a more ghostly appeal. The most blackened moments occur in the tremolo and shrieking of “Empress” and “Galactic Order,” which add a neatly blasphemous and evocative dimension to the album. While inevitably Unyielding Night will conjure similarities to darker deathcore acts like Lorna Shore or Shadow of Intent, Assemble the Chariots simmers and shimmers with energy and fury.

Notably, for as high-brow and potentially alienating as this science fiction/fantasy story and its grand length are, Assemble the Chariots does an excellent job of balancing atmosphere with accessibility. The neck-snapping grooves of “Admorean Monolith” and “Keeper of the Stars” offer necessary tactical grounding on such a relentless attack in their relatively straightforward riff-centric rhythm-based address, while the chill-inducing shreds of “Evermurk” and “Empress” are easily climaxes of intensity, ensuring that Unyielding Night’s baseline of blazing has breath to grow and crescendo. Smartly composed, the album is structured with the natural dynamics of a plot, reflecting the intriguing lore that undergirds each movement and the moods reflecting the tragedy or hope contained therein. Furthermore, while lyrics growled or shrieked by vocalist Onni Holmström tell the story explicitly, they are partnered with the instrumentals, just as accountable for storytelling.

Subtlety is not a priority in Unyielding Night, and Assemble the Chariots offers an album whose intensity and pomp align impressively with the grandiosity of the tragedy of Aquilegia. As such, it’s long, it’s over-the-top, and it’s constantly intense, and likely too much for some listeners. Those nostalgic for the knuckle-dragging Hot Topic “djunzzz” eras of Chelsea Grin or Suicide Silence will also be disappointed. However, Unyielding Night is a powerful, energetic bombast that tastefully includes deathcore’s signature brutality without diving headlong into stagnation – nearly the exact opposite. The tragedy of the planet Aqualegia is told in a rich tapestry of color and emotion, and I eagerly await the next installments. Assemble the Chariots is something special.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: STREAM
Label: Seek & Strike Records
Websites: assemblethechariots.bandcamp.com | assemblethechariots.com | facebook.com/assemblethechariots
Releases Worldwide: July 22nd, 2024

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Drown in Sulphur – Dark Secrets of the Soul Review

By Dear Hollow

I’m gonna be an insufferable hipster about this one: I’ve been listening to blackened deathcore before Lorna Shore made it cool. Hell, I was listening to the style before Will Ramos made Lorna Shore cool. Bands like The Breathing Process, early Make Them Suffer, and Dark Sermon were all rattling off their own takes on spooky corpse-painted Hot Topic-core in the early 2010s before some Hot Topic frequenter said “ooooh” and nabbed that Watain t-shirt they have on display while manically making pig noises to emulate “To the Hellfire.” Here we meet Drown in Sulphur, an Italian blackened deathcore act, who attempts their own spin on kvlt-y brutality.

Largely the problem with much of blackened deathcore is which blackened muse they worship – it ends up being mostly Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth. As such, blackened deathcore can often be distilled into the definition “deathcore with symphonic synths” much of the time. Despite their attempt at conjuring the undead frigid atmosphere of 90’s second-wave, Drown in Sulphur largely falls into this category. Sophomore effort Dark Secrets of the Soul is all about exploration of the darkness of human nature, and while cloaked in brutality and opaqueness, there is a heart of beating melody that courses through its best. Ultimately, thanks to Dark Secrets of the Soul’s blend of melody, brutality, and atmosphere, Drown in Sulphur has promise.

The Italian collective’s bread and butter is crushing deathcore a la the classic Suicide Silence and Carnifex palette, balanced by dramatic synthwork, frenetic and multifaceted guitar work, and manic blastbeats and plods. Tracks like “Buried By Snow and Hail,” “Unholy Light,” and closer “Shadow of the Dark Throne” balance these elements beautifully, melodic motifs grounding the exploration into funereal dimensions with punishing viciousness, tasteful synths, and bouncy riffage. The corpse-painted elephant in the room is breakdowns, which Drown in Sulphur utilizes as moments of punishing clarity that feel like a reprieve from the symphonic saturation beatdown. Refusing to be pegged as a one-trick pony, the more meditative melodies of “Lotus” and “Dark Secrets of the Soul” are powerful and dynamic, guiding the movements to truly punishing pinnacles – even if the clean vocals of the former are hit or miss. Widely interspersed wailing guitar solos are largely successful, capitalizing on track growth, while vocalist Chris “Christ” Lombardo offers a filth-encrusted bellow and occasional shriek that adds to the dark atmosphere – a similar tone to Cabal’s Andreas Bjulver.

The glaring issue with Dark Secrets of the Soul is like many akin to the symphonically inclined -core abusers: monotony and saturation. Like Betraying the Martyrs or Ovid’s Withering’s weaker offerings, Drown in Sulphur regularly toes the fine line between drama and excess, leaning periodically into the latter. Tracks like “Eclipse of the Sun of Eden” and “Say My Name” are all-out bombasts of symphonic saturation and monotonous deathcore brutality that simply extend for far too long, the sense of overwhelm giving way to undeniable boredom and the sound overstaying its welcome. While intro “Adveniat Regnum Tuum” sets the tone nicely with distorted vocals and dark ambiance, interlude “Vampire Communion” serves no purpose, as follow-up “Shadow of the Dark Throne” features its own slow-burning crescendo anyway. While “Lotus” and “Shadow of the Dark Throne” offer some of the best melodies and balance of the album, questionable grungy cleans add a question mark to the former while a slam-influenced slog pumps the brakes on the latter’s momentum, a moment that is blessedly brief.

I’m unsure if Drown in Sulphur quite accurately embodies the “blackened deathcore” moniker as much as the “deathcore with synths” vibe. And that’s okay, because Dark Secrets of the Soul is a rock-solid deathcore album with a melodic thread woven into its infectious energy. While it can get too much periodically, and there are enough questionable decisions made to damage the album’s longevity, it remains a fun listen with plenty of dark atmosphere and filthy pummeling to spare. The “kvlt” is more an aesthetic than a sonic choice, but Dark Secrets of the Soul is tasteful and punishing enough to give Drown in Sulphur another spin or two.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Scarlet Records
Websites: drowninsulphurofficial.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/wedrowninsulphur
Releases Worldwide: January 12th, 2024

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