Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything (2020)

SharpTone Records, February 7, 2020

Tracklist

1. Theme

2. Aggressive Evolution

3. Broken Vision Rhythm

4. Two-Way Mirror

5. 451 Days

6. New Faces In The Dark

7. Red Room

8. Screaming

9. Is It Really You?

10. Gored

11. Heavy Is The Head That Falls With The Weight Of A Thousand Thoughts

12. A Sad Cartoon

13. A Sad Cartoon Reprise

14. I Let It In and It Took Everything...

Based in Liverpool, England, Loathe is making their mark as one of the most multidimensional and interesting up-and-coming bands in the metal scene. Inspired by groups such as Slipknot and Deftones, as well as soundtracks like Silent Hill, the band hybridizes those influences into a punishingly heavy hardcore/djent sound that is not short of melody or experimental elements. I Let It In and It Took Everything is the follow-up to their 2017 album, The Cold Sun. In between, they released two tracks "White Hot" and "Servant and Master" for a split 2018 EP with Holding Absence. Both of those tracks displayed Loathe's songwriting growth and abilities within a short time, and their new full-length album progresses the band even further.

Kadeem France, the band's frontman and vocalist, has plenty of raw power to his voice. His voice complements the dual guitar attack of Erik Bickerstaffe and Connor Sweeney. "Broken Vision Rhythm", "Gored" and "Heavy Is the Head That Falls With the Weight of a Thousand Thoughts" are all-out onslaughts that show just how heavy Loathe can get. The latter track even ventures into black metal territory with its use of blast beats and Kadeem France incorporating a snarling vocal style. Other songs like "Aggressive Evolution" and "New Faces in the Dark" display that signature aggression and cover similar territory to "White Hot" with punishingly heavy sections that give way to ethereal choruses. While Loathe has plenty of ferocity to their sound they also maintain a dark, ethereal undercurrent throughout. Like a well-written horror movie, I Let It In and It Took Everything is full of peaks and valleys, and the moments of calm give the album a chance to breathe and only further accentuate the brutal sections. The four shortest tracks, "Theme", "451 Days", "Red Room", and "A Sad Cartoon (Reprise)" all act as interludes and add cohesion to the album, strengthening it as a whole. "Screaming", "Two-Way Mirror", "Is It Really You?", "A Sad Cartoon", and the closing title track are heavily atmospheric tracks with varying amounts of melody and experimentation. The haunting closer "I Let It In and It Took Everything" brings all of these elements in full circle and is comparable to Slipknot's "Iowa" in its ability to convey a horror film-like soundscape. 

But before we reach that point, it's by the fourth track "Two-Way Mirror" where it becomes clear Loathe is covering new ground. It is the album's softest song and is driven by ethereal, shoegazy vocals in its entirety. Instrumentally, the guitars are restrained in the verses before coming in with a heavy riff in the chorus. The song has been noted for its Deftones influence, and in fact Chino Moreno, Deftones' lead singer, is a fan of the song. Moreno gave the band some additional promotion prior to the album's release, sharing the music video for "Two-Way Mirror" on his personal social media account, as he frequently does to share a wide variety of music he enjoys. "Is It Really You?" is another Deftones-inspired track that feels like Loathe's homage to Koi No Yokan. The song has a truly beautiful chorus and a song structure that ventures out into atmospheric post-metal territory. While many bands in the rock and metal scene claim Sacramento-based band Deftones as an influence, Loathe is doing something special by making that influence part of their own unique entity rather than attempting to clone or recreate an existing sound. 

The song "Two-Way Mirror" asks the question "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" Loathe is a band who is clearly unafraid to experiment and explore the possibilities of heavy music. I Let It In and It Took Everything is an easy early contender for album of the year and earns a score of 9.5/10. As strong as this album is, it may merely be the beginning of Loathe's potential as they show willingness to continue to take their sound even further.